hif Story of 
Old Foct Plain 

and tHe 




Middle Moha^w! 
Valley 




Cliiss 


Fii-'i 


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lA ^ l. ( r K 


I'ljESK.vn-n BY (u>-'fM 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT 
PLAIN AND THE MIDDLE 
MOHAWK VALLEY 

(WITH FIVE MAPS) 



A Review of Mohawk Valley history from 1609 to the 
time of the writing of this book (1912-1914,) treating par- 
ticularly of the central region comprised in the present 
Counties of Herkimer, Montgomery and Fulton. Especial 
attention is given to western Montgomery County and 
the region within a twenty mile radius of the Revolu- 
tionary fortification of old Fort Plain, including the 
Canajoharie and Palatine districts of then Tryon County 



Written, Compiled, and Edited by 

NELSON GREENE 



O'CONNOR BROTHERS :: :: :: PUBLISHERS 

FORT PLAIN, NEW YORK 

1915 



C^3 



THIS BOOK IS 1)E1»U"ATKI). IN AKPKCTIOiWTF 
HEMEMBKANCK, TO MY GRANDMOTHER EMILY 
HERKIMER GREENE. BORN IN THE ' EARLY 
YEARS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY HER 
LONG LIFE COVERED MUCH OF THE GROWTH 
AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY 
FROM WILDERNESS TO CIVILIZATION VND 
HER STORIES OF THE EARLY DAYS PROMI'TED 
THE INTEREST WHICH EVENTUALLY LED THE 
WRITER TO THE I'llEPARATION 
OF THIS VOLUME. 









Copyright 1015 
By NELSON GREENE 



Mohawk, cvor-flowiriK. 

Mohawk, ovor-flowint;— ciirvinjr broadly, hiH-born, nKnintain-bounfl. moa flow-edged ; its 
vaUoy the nalion's roadway, the nation's boatway— linking east to west, oeeaus to lakes; 
scurried by trains, by motor cars, tlioiisands daily speeding along its banks, hill en- 
comjiassed. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing— rivi'r of the lirsl days. 

In the evening shadows, in (he night shadows. Ilie spirit lurk of the savage days; the 
lean red man ]i\ishing his live canoe o"er the rippling dark waters— on the nearby pine hill 
his b.irk cabin, on (lie flats his waving cornfleld ; vagn<'ly gray seen through the river 
\inuk trees, the settler's stone house; from the flatland's edge (he forest rising, all encom- 
liassing: the fisherm.-in's skiff silendy drifting past silhouetted giant elms; whisper of night 
wind in the great treetops ; weird glow light of rising full, yellow moon. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing— river of days of darkness, of battle, of death, of suffering ; in 
the evening darkness, in the night darkness the spirit lurk of red days of blood ; shot, zip 
of tomahawk, wail of crushed infant, death gasp of hero niother; the sturdy old farmer 
in bloody death clinch with the lithe, wriggling red man; scarlet midnight gleam of burn- 
ing liom'estead. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing— great river of old. In the hilltop twilight, dim spirit figure- 
mighty, towering— the nation-maker, mounted, from a high pathway wisely viewing future 
vistas. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing- river of the nation. Here the building of the nation— wisely, 
foolishly, stronglv, recklessly, blusteringly, bravely— bridges, turnpikes, prairie schooners 
svending westward, canals, boats, railways, rattling engines, endless car-trains, flying trol- 
lies, speeding motor cars ; hamlets, towns, cities, bare brick factories belching black smoke. 

Mohaw'k, ever-flowing— river of the present. Comes a birdman flying the twilight heavens 
eastward ; to him the earthdusk ov^r-shadowing dull silver endless snake shapes of river, 
of canal : man-piloted great air bird flying, curving, settling on green bill meadow. 

:SIohawk. ever-flowing— river of our day. The steam car, electric car, flying past wide, 
dusly cities— standing brick bare in the summer sun— teeming with life— aimless, well- 
directed— streets, buildings, men. children, women, beauty, various clothes, strange hats, 
cars, carts, trucks, vehicles, hurrying, hither, thither, hustle, bustle— aimless, w-ell-directed. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing— river of now— from rushing railroad car, from flying motor car 
the speeding traveler, seeing villiige houses twinkling white amid green leaves, church spires 
rising amid the trees: school bells ringing, children running: on the village park the ball 
players, running, batting, catching; the great red barn standing upon a knoll amid wide, 
yellow grain fields ; horses galloping the pasture from rushing train ; cattle— black and 
white spots upon the distant meadow. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing eastward— river no more : wide, full, waterway winding past great 
locks, great bridges, floating great boats— but still the same mysterious lines of flowing 
high hills, the same bordering green meadows. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing — spirit of old, symbol of today, mysterious with suggestions of 
days lo come. 

Mohawk, ever-flowing. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



NOTE. — It is siisgpsted tbat the render of this book follow this order in reading this 
work : 

First: Read the Fifteen School Dates (p. 322) in the Mohawk Valley Chronologies in 
the appendix. 

Second: Read the Mohawk Valley Chronology (p. 307). which starts the appendi.'c. 

Third : Read the main body of the book. 

Fourth : At the conclusion of each chapter turn to the appendi.x and read therein the 
matter relative to the chapter in the main l)ody of the book, which the reader has just 
completed. The appendix additions carry the main body chapter heads, to which the ap- 
l)endix matter properly belongs and to which they will be added in any future editions of 
this work. 

This book can be read in connection witli Lossing's "Empire State'" or (for a shorter 
Work I lli-ndrick's "Itrief (School) History of the Empire State." 

Paoe 
1 .\TR()DTU'TU)X ix 

FIRST SERIES 1609-1783 
CIL\P. I.— The Mohawks and Iroquois— A Dutch .lonrney through the Canajoharie 

District in 1634— Local Indian Villages and Trails 1 

CHAP. II.— 1609-1772 — Indians — Mohawk Valley Discovery — Settlement — Sir William 

Johnson 3 

CHAP. III.— 1774 — .Johnson Hall— Sir William Johnson, Sir John Johnson, Joseph and 

Molly Brant 10 

CHAP. IV.— Minden from 1720-1738— Sir George Clarke, Governor of the Province of New 

York, Establishes a Forest Home at Fort Plain — 1750, the Reformed Church and 

First Store Established — 1755, a Minden Tragedy of the French War 14 

CHAP, v.— 1772— Tryon County and the Canajoharie and Palatine Districts 16 

CIIAl'. VI. — Population of Tryon in 1757 and 1776 — Ft. Johnson — The Highways IS 

CHAP. VII.— 1772— Tryon County People— Farming, Religious and Social Life— Sports 

and Pastimes of the Days Before the Revolution 21 

CHAP. VIII.— 1774 to 1777— Growth of the .\merican Liberty Movement— Tryon County 

Committee of Safety and Militia .' ". 27 

CHAP. IX.— 1776— The Building of Fort Plain— Other Forts Near Here 32 

CHAP. X.— 1776— Adjacent Settlers and Buildings— Some Thrilling Incidents 35"^ 

CHAP. XL— 1777— Oriskany— Willetfs Trip— Arnold's March— Enemy Flees 40 

CH.\P. XII. — 1777 — A Contemporary Account of the Battle at Oriskany — Lossing on 

Willett's Journejf to Schuyler for Aid — The Oriskany Roster ." 48 

CHAP. XIII. — 1777 — Personal Experiences at Oriskany — Indian and Tory Barbarities 54 

CHAP. XIV. — 1778 — Indian Council at Johnstown, March 9 — Manheim. Caroga, Spring- 

tield, Andrustowu. (ierman Flats Raid.s — Cherry \'alley Massacre T 64 

CHAP. XV.— 1779 — Gen. Clinton at Canajoharie — Guard on Otsquago Creek — Sullivan 

and Clinton Defeat Johnson and Brant 70 

CHAI'. XVI.— 1780— May 21, Johnson's Johnstown Raid— .\ugust 2, Brant's Minden Raid 74 

CHAP. XVII.— 1780, August 2— Incidents and Tragedies and Details of Brant's Minden 

Raid 77 

CHAP. XVIIL— 1780— Johnson's Schoharie and Mohawk Invasion— Oct. 19, Battles of 

Stone Arabia and St. Johnsville — N'an Rensselaer's Inefliciency — Enemy Escapes — 

V Fort Plain Named Fort Rensselaer— Fort Plain Blockhouse Built— Fort Willett 

Begun 89 

CHAP. XIX.— 1781— June, Col. Willett Appointed Commander of Mohawk Valley Posts. 
Makes Fort Plain His Headquarters— Dreadful Tryon County Conditions— July 9. 
Currytown Raid— July 10, American Victory at Sharon— Fort' Schuyler Abandoned 98 

CHAP. XX.— 1781— Oct. 24, Ross and Butler's Tory and Indian Raid in Moutgomerv and 
Fulton Counties— Oct. 25, American Victory at Johnstown— Willett's I'ursuit, 
Killing of Walter Butler and Defeat of the Enemy at West Canada Creek— Rejoic- 
ing in the Mohawk Valley— Johnstown, the County Scat, at the Time of the Hall 
Battle, 1781 105 

CHAP. XXI.— 1782— Last of the War in (ho Valley- Reliuilding and Repopulation— Tory 

and Indian Raid at l<'ort Herkimer— Tories— Gen. Washington at Schenectady \ 114 

CHAP. XXII.— 1783— February 9, Col. WilletCs .Vttemjit to Capture Fort Oswego— 

Privations of the .\merican Troops on the Return Trip 117 

CHAP. XXIII.— 1783— April 17, Messenger From (ien. Washington Reaches Fort Plain 
(Jiving News of End of Hostilities— April 18, Captain Thompson's Journey to 
Oswego With a Flag of Truce US 



vi TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Pave 
CHAP. XXIV.— 1783— Julv, Washington'.s Tour of Mohawk Valley and Visit to Otsego 
I^ake— His Lettors ronforniug Trii)— Stops at I'alatino. Fort Plain. Chorry Valley 
and Canaiobarie- Col. Clyde— Final IJccords of Fort Plain or Fort Rensselaer- 

Last Revolutionary Indian Murder in Canajoliarie District 123 

CHAP. XXV.— 1775-1783- Review of Moliawk Valley Events- Tryon County Militia 

Records — Territory Covered in These Sketches 130 

SECOND SERIES 1784-1838 

CHAP. I.— 1784-1838— Mohawk Valley After the Revolution— Constructive Period— Mont- 
gomery County and its Divisions— Towns and Their Changes 136 

CHAP. II.— 1784-1838— People and Life in the Mohawk Valley— Dress— The Revolutionary 
Houses— The Mohawk Dutch— English P.ecomes the Popular Tongue— Rev. Taylor's 
.Tourney in 1802— Valley Sports— Douhleday's Invention of Paseball— Last of the 
Mohawks in the Vallev— The Iroquois Population in 1890 and the Mohawks in 
Canada 1''2 

CHAP. III.— 1689-1825- Western Montgomery County and the Palatine and Canajoharie 

Districts Townships- Life, Trade. Schools, Development 154 

CHAP. IV.— The Five Revolutionary Churches of Western Montgomery County— Other 
Revolutionary Churches in Montgomery and Fulton Counties and in Danube and 
Manheim— Hon. Francis Granger's Account of the Old Caughnawaga Dutch 
Church ■• 'BS 

CHAP, v.— The Mohawk River and Watershed— History and Topography 171 

CHAP VI.— 1609-1795— Tra the and Travel on the Mohawk River- Canoes, Dugouts, Skiffs. 
Batteaux— Carries at Little Falls :ind Wood Creek— 179:i. Inland Lock Navigation 
Co— 1795, Canals and Locks at Little Falls, (ierman Flats and Romf>— Schenectady 
and Durham P.oats and River Packets— 1821-1825, Mohawk Part of Erie Canal 
System — 1825. Erie Canal Supersedes River as Valley Waterway — Christian 
Schultz's 1807 Mohawk River Journey 178 

CHAP VII.— 1609-191,3— Mohawk Valley Transportation— Indian Trails— Horse and Cart 
Roads Highways (1700-1800)— Turnpikes and Mohawk Turnpike (1800-1840) — 
Country Roads ' (1840-1885)— Bicycle Routes (1885-1900)— Automobile Roads (1900- 
1913)_-VVeed's 1824 Stage Coach .Journey on the Mohawk Turniuke 185 

CII\P VIII —1793-1913— First Bridges in Middle Mohawk Valley and Montgomery 
County— Celebration at Opening of Fort Plain Bridge, July 4, 1806— Fort Plain Free 
Bridge, 1858 ■> l'*^ 

CII\P IX.— 1812— The Militia Svstem— Trainings— War With England— The Mohawk 

Valley Militia '•9' 

CHAI*. X.— 1817-1825— Construction of Erie Canal— (Clinton's Triumphal Trip— Fort 

Plain's Celebration 200 

CHAP. XL— 1831-1836— First Valley Railroads— The Mohawk and Hudson (1831), Utica 



and Schenectady (1836), New York Central (1853), New York Central and Hudson 
River Railroad (1869), Fonda, Johnstown and (Jloversville (1870), West Shore 
Railroad (1883)— First Freight Business- Trolley Lines 



209 



CIIAP XII —1836, Fonda Made County Seat of Montgomery County— New Court House 
Built at Fonda- Dissatisfaction in Northern Montgomery— 1838, Fulton County 
Created From Northern Montgomery County 215 

THIRD SERIES 1838-1913 

,>[IVI' I —1838-1913— Montgomery County, Topography, Population and History— Farm 
Statistics and Amsterdam Industrial Statistics— Fulton County, Herkimer County 
and Mohawk Valley Statistics 219 

CHAP II —1848— Trip of Benson J. Lossing From Currytown to Sharon Springs, to 

Cherry Valley, to Fort Plain— Revolutionary Scenes and People Then Living 231 

CII\P III —1861-1865— Montgomery and Fulton County Men in the Civil War— 115th. 
153d and Other Regiments and Companies With Montgomery and Fulton County 
Representation— 1912, 115th and 153d Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Mustering in 
at Fonda 234 

CHAP IV— 1892, Barge Canal Recommendation of State Engineer Martin Schenck— 
1900 Report of tiie (ireene Canal Commission. Barge Canal Survey— 1903, Passage 
of $101000 000 Barge Canal Act— 1905— Work Begun on Erie Canal Section— Locks 
Widened to 45 Feet— Features of the Mohavi^k River Canalization 250 

Cn\P V — 1911, August 14-25, Atwood's 1,266-Mile Plight From St. Louis to New York- 
Flics 95 Miles From Svracuse to N(>lliston, August 22 and Stays Overnight at Fort 
Plain— Flies 66 Miles From Nellislon to Castleton, August 23, With a Stop In Glen 
for Repairs— "Following the ISIohawk" 262 

CHAP VI —Geological Review of the Middle Mohawk Valley by Ahram Devendorf— 
Lake Albany Covering the Old Mohawk Country of Canajoharie, From Little 
Falls to the Noses— The Glacial I'eriod— Surface Indications 265 

CHAP. VIL— Western Montgomery County Schools— Supt. Alter's 1912 Report 271 

CIIAP VIII.— Deforestation and Reforesia tion— Denundation in Western Montgomery 
County— Arlior r)ay— Adirondack and National Forest Preserves— The Forests and 
the Water Supply 273 

CHAP. IX.— 1894-1914— Western Montgomery County Hydro-Electric Development on East 

and Caroga Creeks 277 

CHAP. X.— 1825-1913— Western Montgomery County and the Five Towushii)s of Miuden, 

Canajoharie, Root, Palatine and St. Johusville 281 



TABLE OF CONTENTS vii 

Page 
CHAP. XI.— 1825-1913— Western Montgomery County— The Town of St. .lohnsville and 

St. .Tohnsville Village 284 

CHAP. XII.— 1825-1913— Western Montgomery County- The Town of Palatine 286 

CHAP. XIII.— 1S25-1913— Western Montgomery County— The Town of Root 287 

CHAP. XIV.— 1825-1913— Western Montgomery County— The Town of Canajoharie and 

Canajoharie Village 290 

CHAP. XV.— 1825-1913— Western Montgomery County— Fort Plain Village and Minden 

Township 293 

APPENDIX 

Mohawk Valley Chronology 307 

Western Montgomery County Da tes 317 

Mohawk Valley Military Statistics ; 318 

Fifteen Dates for School Use 322 

Chronology of Mohawk Valley Pre-Revolutionary Houses and Churches ...: 324 

Chronology of Sir William .Johnson 326 

Mohawk S'alley Travelers' Chronology 327 

Mohawk Valley Manufacturing Chronology — Sketches of Principal Industries and of 

Cheese Dairying 328 

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS— SERIES I. 

CHAP. I. — The Mohawks and Six Nations — The Iroquoian Trihes of North America — 

The Iroquois Legend of Hiawatha 341 

CHAP. II.— The Six Mohawk Valley Counties and the Mohawk Valley Considered as a 
Historical and Geographical Unit — Dutch Settlement and Influence in the Hudson 
and Mohawk Valleys— Importance of the Hudson Valley, Geographical, Commer- 
cial, Industrial, Agricultural, Social 350 

1661— Dutch Settlement of Schenectady 355 

The Mohawks a Bar to Early While Settlement Along the Mohawk 356 

1709— Trip of Four Mohawk Chiefs to England 356 

1760— Mrs. Grant's Mohawk River Trip 357 

1760— Gen. Amherst's Expedition 358 

CHAP. III.— Sir William Johnson, an Appreciation 359 

CHAP. V 360 

CHAP. VIII.— 1764— The General Herkimer House— A 1913 Description 360 

1777 — Account of the Ilerkimer-Brant Conference at ITnadilla hy Joseph Wagner, a 

Palatine Militiaman 361 

Christopher P. Yates— A Biographical Sketch 362 

C HAP. IX , 362 

CHAP. XI.— 1777— The Battle of Oriskany Descrihed by Miller and Seeber, Soldier Par- 
ticipants 362 

1777— Capt. McDonald's Tory and Indian Invasion of Schoharie — Flockey Battle 364 

CHAP. XIII 365 

CHAP. XIV.— 1778— Battle of Cobleskill 365 

Additional Facts Concerning Helmer's Heroic Run of 1778 365 

CHAP. XV.— 1779— Gen. Clinton's Route From Canajoharie to Otsego Lake 365 

CHAP. XVII 366 

CHAP. XVIII.— 1780— Johnson's Raid and Battles of Stone Arabia and Johnstown De- 
scribed bv Thomas Sammons. an American Volunteer-Participant 366 

CHAP. XIX.— Monuments to and Portraits of Colonel Willett 371 

CHAP. XX.— 1781— Lieut. Wallace's Story of the Battle of Johnstown 372 

CHAP. XXI 373 

CHAP. XXV.— Part I'layed by the Women. Children and Youth in Mohawk Valley 

History 373 

SERIES II. 

CHAP. I.— 1784— First Permanent Settlement of Oneida County— New England Immi- 
gration 377 

CHAP. VI.— Elkanah Watson's Mohawk River Trips of 1788 and 1791— His Views on and 

Efforts for Improved Mohawk River Navigation 377 

CHAP. VII.— 1800 (about)— The Mohawk and Albany Pikes— Toll Gates 381 

CHAP. XL— 1914— Mohawk Valley Railroads— Railroad Development 382 

SERIES III. 

CHAP. I.— Mohawk Valley Governors, Yates, 1823-5; Bouck, 1843-5; Seymour, 1853-5. 

1863-5— Vice President Sherman, 1908-12 '. 382 

CHAP. IV. — Prospective Barge Canal Commerce 383 

CHAP, v.— 1914— Aeroplanes 387 

Incorrect Historical Illustrations 388 

The Marking of the Site of Old Fort I'lain — Valley Historical Societies and Their 

Accomplishnn^nts — Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls 388 

Yankee Doodle and the Yankee Doodle Boys 389 

Value of the Study of Local History by I >r. Sherman Williams .* .390 

2200 Population of Hudson Valley — Ultimate Mohawk N'alley Populations 392 

Scenic Features of the Mohawk Valley 393 

Notes 393 

Corrections- Series 1 397 

Correct ion.s— Series II 398 

A Final Word 399 



viii TABLE OF CONTEXTS 

ADDITIONAL CORRECTIONS. 

In the Introduction, on page xiv, thirty-fifth line read "white winter slumber" for 
"while winter slumber." 

In the Appendix, p. 351, fifth line from the bottom, first column, read "history of coun- 
tries" for "history of counties." 

In the Appendix on p. 354, the statement is made that "At Pouj;hkeepsie in 1786, the 
New York State Assembly ratified the United States Constitution, making the ninth state 
to take such action and thus putting it into effect." This is an error. It was in 1788 that 
the State Assembly met at Poughkeepsie to consider the adoption of the National Consti- 
tution framed at Annapolis in 1786. While in session news was received that New Hamp- 
shire had ratified the Constitution. It was the ninth state so to do and its action put the 
national government into effect. It was then up to New York to ratify or secede from the 
United States. A majority of the state legislators were against ratifying and it was only 
the great efforts of Alexander Hamilton that secured New York's approval by the close vote 
of 30 to 27. See Lossing's "Empire State," Chapter 23. 

In the Appendix, page 377, first column, seventh line from the top, read "New York 
State Revolutionary troops" for "New York State Revolutionary militia." 

In the Appendix, page 382, second column, fifth line from the top, read "250 loaded coal 
cars" instead of "250 loaded freight cars." 

In the Appendix, page 396, second column, fifth lino from tlie bottom, read "Statue of 
Baron Steuben" instead of "Statute of Baron Steuben." 

In the acknowledgment of assistance rendered the editor of this work by living (1914) 
writers on the Mohawk valley and otliers, the name of Mrs. A. T. Smith of Fultonville, N. 
y., is omitted. On page 230 appears an extract from one of Mrs. Smith's writings, "A 
Ramble, Visit to a Colonial House." 

An earnest effort has been made to correct the errors which have crept into this work 
during its preparation. These mistakes will be eliminated iu any future editions of this 
book. 






W 1 




(T) represents proposed Black-River Barge-Canal improv/emenit- 

rep/«,senfcs proposed Seneca-Lake = Oiimun^-River Baipe Canal improvemenh 
Irepresen+s proposed Clens-Falls feeder Bar^e-Canal innproi/ement 
represents proposed NewfownCreeK-Flushinj-Rj^ BageCanal imprcvem«nl- 

(5)rcprsservt-s proposed FiushinjBa^^rJamaicaSa^ Bage-Canal improuemcnt- 



NEW YORK STATE RIVERS. 
Here are seen the principal rivers and river systems of New York State, ineliulin^ also 
those of northeastern New Jersey, which empty into the mouth of tJie Hudson. The j;reiit- 
est river systems in the order of their importance to New York State are the Hudson, the 
Oswego, the St. Lawrence (including Lake ("hamplainK the Genesee, the Susquehanna, the 
Delaware, the Black, and the Allegheny. The borders of New York State are not here 
shown and it will interest the student (of any age) to supply them. New York contains 
two of the three principal drainage systems of the United States— these three are the 
Atlantic, the Oulf of Mexico and the Pacific systems. The Allegheny river, traversing a 
portion of southwestern New York State, represents the Gulf drainage system, while all the 
other streams lie within the Atlantic system. New York State takes its form from the 
Dutch and English occupation of the Hudson valley and the Iroquois occupancy of the Os- 
wego valley and western New York. New York State, generally speaking, is bordered by 
Lake Erie and the Niagara river on the west. Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence on the 
north, Lake Champlain and the watershed of the Hudson on the east and portions of the 
watersheds of the Allegheny, Sus(]uehanna and Delaware rivers on the south. Attention is 
called to the remarkable Hudson (including the Mohawk) and Oswego river systems, which 
form such a large part of the New York Slate Rargi> Canal. The canalized i)ortions of 
these rivers are represenled by dots alongside llieir chaniu'ls. Note the c.-uial signs which 
indicate propos(>d future unions of streams and tlieir canalization. See ("hajiter Y., Series 
II., P. 171, "The Mohawk River and Waterslied ;" also Chapter VI., Third Series, "Geological 
Review of the Middle Mohawk Valley." 



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INTRODUCTION 



In 1776 an American fort was erected, in the district of Canajoharie of 
Tryon county, at the then mouth of the Otsquago creek, on a bluff in the Sand 
Hill section of the present village of Fort Plain. Legend has it that there was 
some sort of fortification before that date and this is not improbable as here 
was the beginning of the Otsego trail through the Otsquago valley and the site 
in question is one naturally suited for defense. The fort built in the year 
of the Independence declaration was a regular army post and continued as such 
until Washington's vsit in 1783, and for some years after. It is with this forti- 
fication that the story deals and with lands adjoining, of which it v/as a natural 
center. 

Artificial boundaries of territory are often confusing and somewhat ridicu- 
lous. The Mohawk forms a natural division between the north and south side 
sections about Fort Plain and it is fitting that these two neighborhoods should 
be treated as separate localities. Aside from supposed convenience to the citi- 
zens at election times and to facilitate town government, there is no reason 
whatever why we should try in our minds to conceive the township of Canajo- 
harie as set off in any way from the town of Minden. Walk back on the hills 
toward Seebers Lane; look off to the east and you will see the stream of 
the Mohawk separating you from the fertile hills of beautiful Palatine. But 
where you stand (if it is on the high hill about a mile southeast of Fort Plain 
village) you will see no line or natural boundary cutting off the farms of Minden 
from those of Canajoharie. So, in treating of the land, people or events of the 
valley, it is more vitally important to consider the sections naturally set apart 
than those which consist solely of imaginary lines drawn upon maps. 

In the following chapters, the story of old Fort Plain will be found to be 
interwoven with that of the old Canajoharie and Palatine districts of Tryon 
county. The acute mind of S'r William Johnson, in his division of the districts 
of Tryon, merely drew on his map the natural boundaries which ran through the 
county. This middle region of the Mohawk valley is set off from the upper part 
to the west of Little Falls by the range which cuts squarely across the Mohawk, 
known by the name of Fall Hill. To the east a similar barrier exists in the 
picturesque hill formations wh?ch rise from the Mohawk flats on each side, 
known as The Noses. The Mohawk here breaks through a high ridge which 
separates this mid section from the eastern part of the valley. Johnson fit- 
tingly named this region north of the river, Palatine, and that to the south 
Canajoharie, and these formed the Palatine and Canajoharie districts of 
Troyn county. The name Canajoharie had probably been applied to its section 



X INTRODUCTION 

from early Indian times. Five districts were set off and the other three were 
Mohawk, on both sides of the river from the line of Schenectady county west 
to the Noses, and from Fall Hill west, Kingsland to the north of the Mohawk 
and German Flats to the south. The districts north of the river were supposed 
to run to the Canadian line, while those to the south embraced territory to the 
northern boundary of Pennsylvania. However, most of the population was 
gathered along the Mohawk river and its tr'butary, the Schohar'e, and the history 
of Tryon county is in reality that of the Mohawk valley; which is another in- 
stance where actual natural territory and boundaries must be considered rather 
than the dot and dash divisions of the maps. 

These two districts mentioned extend along the Mohawk for a distance of 
about twenty miles. The townships of Montgomery county that form part of 
old Canajoharie and Palatine are Minden, Canajoharie, part of Root (to the west 
of the Big Nose), Palatine and St. Johnsville. This publication deals with these 
five towns, as well as the older districts, and, as Fort Plain is approximately at 
their geographical center, it is fitting that the title of this narrative should be 
"The Story of Old Fort Plain." So the object of this work is to tell the tale of 
the Mohawk country between the Noses and Fall Hill and to relate as well all 
that can be gathered of importance with reference to the chief and central Revo- 
lutionary fortification of the territory in question, which was known as Fort Plain. 

It is interesting to realize that we have a prior authority, for the considera- 
tion of local history from this point, in that eminent New York state historian, 
Benson J. Lossing, particularly adapted to his task by being a descendant of the 
first Holland settlers. In his wonderfully interesting "Pictorial Field Book 
of the Revolution," he says: "At Fort Plain I was joined by my traveling com- 
panions * * * and made it my headquarters for three days, while visiting 
places of interest in the vicinity. It being a central point in the hostile move- 
ments in Tryon county, from the time of the flight of St. Leger from before 
Fort Stanwix until the close of the war, we will plant our telescope of observa- 
tion here for a time, and view the most important occurrences within this par- 
ticular sweep of its speculum." To do exactly this and, in addition, to continue 
our view of life and events from the Revolutionary time to the present, is the 
mission of "The Story of Old Fort Plain." 

The need has been felt of a continuous narrative of the fort and the condi- 
tions existing in its surrounding territory. The former chronicles of events and 
life about here were largely obscure and what could be obtained was imbedded 
in a mass of other material in local history. Fort Plain was next to Forts Dayton 
and Herkimer, the most advanced New York frontier post, during the last years 
of the war and seems to have been the most important. From here Willett is- 
sued on his heroic marches to victorious battles; here was the headquarters of 
the chief officers concerned in the Klock's field battle; here and within cannon 
shot occurred some of the most tragic and thrilling incidents of the Revolution 
in Tryon county. From here was heard Brown's brave stand at Stone Arabia, 
and from here was seen the glare from Currytown's burning farm-houses. Here 
was heard the rattle of the rifles of the victorious Americans on Klock's Field. 
This fort housed the settlers fleeing from the tomahawk and torch of the Indian 
and Tory. It was once, by Fort Plain's women, successfully defended by a femi- 
nine ruse. It remained a tower of patriot strength during the whole contest and 
finally at its close housed the great commander — Washington himself. Here 



INTRODUCTION xi 

came Gansevoort, Gov. Clinton, Col. Dayton, Gen. Clinton, the despised Van 
Rensselaer, probably Gen. Arnold, as well as many members of the committee of 
safety and of the county militia. Here commanded the mighty Willett and the 
sterling warrior Clyde. Through the dreadful, bloody struggle, which decimated 
the population and almost destroyed a thriving farming section, Fort Plain 
stood a tower of strength to keep alive in a great territory the soul of American 
liberty and the spirit of American civilization and culture. This it did and, 
when the horrors of the conflict were past and its dead buried, some back of the 
church near by, the batteaux again floated on the river at its feet, within 
its sight blackened ruins were replaced by houses and barns and the plowman 
was once more seen tilling the neglected flelds on the distant slopes. Civilization 
resumed its work in the valley and the task of old Fort Plain was done. But 
its story still remains for those who wish to learn it. 

The placing of the fortification was evidently largely a matter of geography. 
Its hill was capable of defense on all sides and was commanded by no higher 
ground which could be used as a base of attack at that time. It could be pro- 
vided with its necessary water from a good spring directly under its walls. It 
had a view of the country for miles in all directions. The road from Fort 
Stanwix to Schenectady ran along the foot of the hill. It, of course, was of easy 
access from the river at its base and commanded this highway of freight 
traffic, and a ferry was here then as at a later date. Its location at the be- 
ginning of the Otsego trail or carry, as mentioned, probably influenced its site 
and here then the Otsquago flowed into the Mohawk. Boys who swam in the 
river before the beginning of the Barge canal remember "the low," as they called 
it and this shallow in the river, then about opposite the knitting mills, was un- 
doubtedly the remains of the rift which always existed in the Mohawk below the 
outlets of contributory streams. The mouth of the Garoga valley, penetrating a 
great extent of the country to the north, lay about two miles away and at that 
point the old Indian trail from Canada, by way of Lake George, joined the Mo- 
hawk river trails. Furthermore Fort Plain was located in the midst of the 
Palatine settlements of which Fort Herkimer and Fort Dayton defended the 
western and Fort Hunter the eastern end. Everything made this the natural 
site of what was later an important frontier post and the base of several mili- 
tary operations vitally affecting the settlers of the Mohawk valley. Here at 
Sand Hill, was a Reformed church, a river ferry, one or two traders and prob- 
ably a tiny hamlet at the time of the erection of this defense. Of course the 
fear of invasion of the state by British forces and Indian allies, from Canada 
through the Mohawk valley, was the prime reason for the renovation of Forts 
Stanwix and Herkimer and the building of Fort Dayton diagonally opposite, at 
the present site of Herkimer, and of Fort Plain in the center of the Canajoharie 
district in the year of the Declaration of Independence. 

The time dealt with lends added interest to a sketch of its people, places and 
events on account of its remoteness. Although we are separated from it by only 
about a century and a half of time (since the date of the erection of Fort Plain), 
the vital changes of that period have given American life an absolutely different 
phase. Up to the building of the Erie canal the details of human existence had 
been the same, practically, for centuries. Today we live in a different world 
from our American forebears of 1776. 



xii INTRODUCTION 

The main part of these sketches is founded upon "Beer's Illustrated History 
of Montgomery and Fulton Counties, 1878," Lossing's "Field Book of the Revo- 
lution" and Simms's "Frontiersmen of New York." Large parts of these works 
have been used bodily. Other authorities whose material has been made use of 
are Lossing's "Empire State," Benton's "History of Herkimer County" and the 
"Documentary History of New York." While no claim is made for especial 
originality in its preparation, a great mass of material has been arranged in 
proper chronological sequence, wh'ch, the writer believes, is the first instance 
of its having been done in relation to the Revolutionary history of Fort Plain 
and the region about it. In order to make a continuous narrative, dealing with 
the men of this territory, the Oriskany campaign is included. It is presumed 
about half of the provincials concerned in this movement came from these two 
districts and the history of the men themselves of old Canajoharie and old Pala- 
tine is fully as vital as the study of events and places. An endeavor has been 
made to give a picture of different periods and, to this end, much detail has been 
necessary. 

The history of the middle Mohawk valley can, for convenience, be divided 
into four sections. 

The first is from its discovery about 1616, to the formation of Tryon county 
in 1772. This is the time of Indian life and of white settlement. 

The second period is from 1772 to 1783, embracing the Revolutionary war. 

The third is from 1783 to the division of Montgomery county into Fulton and 
Montgomery counties in 1838, covering the years of highway improvement, bridge 
building, canal digging, railroad construction and early town development. 

The fourth is from 1838 to the present day, and it is hoped that teachers and 
parents will, in future years, carry on this story for the young reader up to the 
time in which he or she reads this book. 

Many people have the idea that local history means, almost entirely, the 
events transpiring about here during the Revolution. That such an impression 
is erroneous is shown by the fact that, in this work, the recital of events here- 
abouts, during the War of Independence^ occupies only about one -third of the 
space. Conditions have been so varied and so many elements have entered into 
the story of this valley of the northland that there is much to scan beside the 
tragedies, conflicts and life of the first war with England. Our chron-cle is not 
alone local but touches at every point the development of our national life, and 
this is particularly true because the valley has always been, from the earliest 
times, one of the great highways of traffic, trade and travel between east 
and west. 

No section of our country affords more glowing historical pictures than the 
Mohawk country. Here are found all the elements that go to the making of the 
story of man from the stone age to the present era of a complicated civilization. 
The French priests and the Dutch traders discovered here red savages, who 
were living under conditions similar to those of prehistoric man in Europe. Of 
the latter we have only the most fragmentary knowledge, but, of the'r equivalent 
brethren in America, we know as much as we do of our own frontier ancestors. 
In the earliest days in the valley, of which we have historical knowledge, we find 
much of the Mohawk Indian life centered in the old Canajoharie district. This 
lends to the study of the most warlike tribe of the powerful Iroquois republic 
an added and poignant local interest. 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

The story of this great and beautiful valley of the Mohawk is soon told in 
brief. While it has been ages in the making, the reader can close his eyes and, 
in less time than it takes in the telling, its varied and colorful pictures sweep 
before his mental vision. 

Centuries, probably, after the great glacial ice sheet started ebbing toward 
the north, it turned the waters of some of the Great Lakes down through the 
valley to the Hudson sea inlet, making our river a great rushing torrent, large 
in volume and magnificent to the view. Before the mighty stream dwindled to 
its present course, back, through the great forest covering the old glacial bed 
and along the river, came slinking red human beings close, in brain and body, to 
the beasts they slew for food and cloth'ng. Here, in the ages before the dread 
ice came slowly and irresistibly from the dead and frozen north, perhaps had 
been men not unlike them, living wild lives in the wilderness among the stranger 
wild animals of that distant day. 

Gradually these savages, of the period after the great ice sheet, grew in the 
ruder arts of civilization; while, outside of their immediate bands, their lust 
for human blood and love of cruel spectacles probably increased. Then came 
red warriors from the north down upon the homes of these valley barbarians 
and began a bloody war of extermination. Suddenly from the forests, these ver- 
milion-faced, befeathered, naked savages rush out and with club and arrow, 
with stone axe and knife, they murder the startled people of the Mohawk 
villages. A hideous spectacle ensues — men, women and children are stabbed, 
struck down, brained and scalped, only a few escaping to later burn and agonize 
for the bestial enjoyment of the red raiders. To save themselves, the Mohawks, 
with their brethren of the other four tribes, join in the great league of the Iro- 
quois family. They drive back their foes, inflicting equally murderous and in- 
human punishment, and become the virtual rulers of the red men of the entire 
eastern country. 

Years after this, but upon a long ago day, a Mohawk stood in front of his 
village on a slope overlooking the bright and winding stream. Bronzed and 
naked to his breech cloth and deerskin leggins, with knife in belt and bow 
in hand, his sharp eyes scanned the summer scene. At his feet lay the flatlands 
of the yalley, green with the promising crop of Indian corn. Gently back from 
these open spaces sloped the giant hills clad in a glorious forest unbroken to 
the summits of the fartherest ridges. In the distance a herd of deer stepped 
lightly to the river edge and drank, and far on high an eagle soared in the 
milky blue sky. A pleasing sight — a view of primeval nature undisturbed. En- 
tered, upon this quiet scene, a man in a canoe. Around a willow-bordered bend ■ 
in the placid river he came paddling down stream and the red man saw that 
he was clad in strange garments and that he was white — a sight which filled 
him with superstitious amazement — which meant the end of his race in the 
valley. This was the first of the French priests whose mission of religion 
brought them among the valley Iroquois. 

As the river and its banks move quickly by, to this silent, serious white 
man, so the scene changes rapidly after his advent. The Dutch traders, in still 
stranger clothes, bring guns and rum to exchange with the Indians for their 
splendid wilderness furs. After them follow red-coated soldiers and traders of 
another race — the English. Then come, toiling painfully, up the banks of the 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

river, sturdy, patient men of a brother blood — the Germans. The Mohawks begin 
to lose their lands and we soon find them, few in numbers, confined to two vil- 
lages, one at the Schoharie creek and the other in the western Canajoharie 
district. To them the white men seem to come in swarms. They fell the trees 
and clear and till the land while the smoke from the burning prostrate forest 
giants clouds the sky. White women, little children, and strange new animals 
follow these woodsmen, who build yet larger houses of stone, who make wagon 
paths through the woods and who bring their flatboats, up and down the river, 
laden with grain, furs and many kinds of goods. These valley Europeans eat, 
drink, play, dance, love, sing, breed, work and die, like people the world over. 

Then, as now, spring comes to the Mohawk, flooding the white and grey 
valley with sudden warmth, making every tiny rivulet a rushing torrent and fill- 
ing the river with its yearly flood of brown turbid water and rushing ice. The 
rough clearings are plowed and planted and heavy crops soon cover the fertile 
soil. Forest, field, hillside — all are green, green in every shade; green every- 
where is the valley, except the winding river reflecting the whitish blue sky. 
Then the harvest time dots the verdant landscape with fields of brown and 
yellow and through flatland and meadow resounds the swish of scythe and cradle. 
Autumn colors the woods with a riot of scarlet, yellows and browns and the open 
spaces and the river margin sparkle with the azure and sheen of aster, golden 
rod, wild sunflower. Corn shocks rustle and nod and yellow pumpkins glow like 
giant oranges amidst the stubble. Now is the beauty of the vale of the Mo- 
hawk at its best, while the air is filled with subtle haze and the glorious autumn 
landscape drowses in the noontide of a perfect Indian summer. Mohawk and 
white hunter bring home deer and wild turkey; the small boy scours the woods 
for hickory and butter nut. In the branches chatters the thrifty squirrel as 
the quiet air is startled by the crack and boom of rifle and gun. In the cabins 
and stone houses, wives and daughters bake and brew for autumn feasts and 
merrymakings. At night the great harvest moon, full-orbed, hangs in the sky 
flooding, with its greenish yellow light, a landscape of mystery, through which 
gleams the winding ribbon river — a scene inspiring that pensive seriousness 
which seems to possess the valley, even in its gayest autumn or tenderest 
springtime phases. 

And now down again comes the soft mantle of snow and the great hills and 
vales are once more wrapped in their while winter slumber. 

And so, for years, runs along the life of the pioneer beside the Mohawk. 
But after a time these white men of different nations begin to differ among 
themselves and fall to quarreling violently. The velvet and red-coated turn upon 
the men of homespun and buckskin; war to the death breaks out, whUe the valley 
reeks with horrid slaughter. 

The embittered Indians join the red coats, glad of a foe on whom to wreak 
vengeance for their stolen hunting grounds. As is usual the payment for this 
dread struggle of the Revolution is made in the lives of tender children and 
loving women as well as in those of enraged men. What had once been 
strong men of Tryon county lie rotting, to the number of two hundred on the 
field of Oriskany. 

Here particularly are shown all those revolting horrors of war which, when 
generally and constantly realized, will eliminate such bloody struggles from the 
life of civilized peoples — war which is no more essential to the development 



INTEODUCTION xv 

of nations than Indian barbarities are requisite to the cultivation of intrepid 
manhood. 

But the naked Indian, the velvet and the red coat are driven back. Sadly, 
the men of homespun and buckskin drop their guns, bury their dead, rebuild 
their burned and plundered homes and turn again to the task of tilling their 
neglected fields. 

Such is nature that, in ten year's time, the Mohawk skirts a country again 
smiling with plentiful harvests, and through the trees along its banks show 
solid houses and barns filled with corn and wheat and all the bountiful products 
of a fertile soil. Then men tire of the hardships of boating on the river and dig 
themselves a canal in which to float still larger freight craft, and great is the 
rejoicing when it is done. Bridges are built across the Mohawk and soon, close 
along its edge, the engine of steam on iron tracks goes rushing by, before the 
gaze of the astonished farmer and his affrighted family. Villages with smoking 
factories dot the twin courses of the Mohawk and the Erie, broad cultivated 
fields have replaced the giant forest which live only in a few scattered woods. 
And here is the valley of our day, from whence, at the trumpet's blare which 
proclaimed a nation's peril, thousands of our men fare forth to fight and die on 
southern fields. 

Here is the valley of four hundred thousand people, where were but ten 
thousand when St. Leger came down upon Fort Schuyler; our valley which has 
always been a great highway, by land and water, since the day of the Indian 
trails and the river flatboat — great and growing greater with its railroads over 
which hundreds of trains speed daily; its highways traversed by countless auto- 
mobiles; its barge canal, soon to carry a large share of the country's east and 
west commerce: our valley, with its schools, societies, clubs, churches, theaters, 
fairs, factories, stores, bustling villages, great cities, tiny hamlets, fertile farms 
— with its restless, discontented human population, sharing in the trouble and 
perplexity of the nation's industrial and political problems — but yet withal our 
northland valley of old, shorn of its noble forest but with the same everlasting 
hills rising in slope on slope, from the winding river to noble heights along the 
horizon. 

This in brief, is the story of the Mohawk. And what of the future — who 
knows what it may be, before the great green forest of yore again comes back 
over these rolling hills, yes and before that day when the dread cold encompasses 
it all once more — perhaps forever. 

NELSON GREENE. 

Fort Plain, New York, September 15, 1912. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 

(FIRST SERIES 1616-1783) 



CHAPTER I. 

The Mohawks and Iroquois — A Dutch 
Journey Through the Canajoharie 
District in 1634 — Local Indian Vil- 
lages and Trails. 

It is no part of this narrative to deal 
at lengtli with the Indian inhal)itants 
of the valley, who ceased to be people 
of this territory at the building of the 
Port Plain fortification. The reader is 
referred to works dealing with the 
Mohawks and the Iroquois. That the 
aboriginal inhabitants of the Mohawk 
valley were a peculiar combination of 
shrewdness, semi-civilJzation, child- 
ishness and the blackest savagery, 
goes without saying. They cultivated 
the native vegetables on the river flats 
and some of the native fruits on near- 
by slopes. They made maple sugar, 
raised tobacco and trapped and fished, 
and handed on to the first white set- 
tlers their knowledge of the native 
soil and its products. The Mohawks 
wore skins for clothing and made cab- 
ins of saplings and bark, which were 
of considerable size at times. A stock- 
ade surrounded their villages. With 
them is concerned a legend of Hia- 
watha. The members of the original 
five nations, in the order of their dis- 
tribution from east to west, were Mo- 
hawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas 
and Senecas. These were joined by 
the Tuscaroras in 1714, and the Iro- 
quois, after that year, were known as 
the Six Nations. As the Mohawks 
were the most warlike tribe the war 
chief of the Iroquois was selected 
from the ranks of these valley savages. 
At the time of the Dutch occupation, 
the total Iroquois population is esti- 
mated at 13,000, and must then have 



been considerably greater than a cen- 
tury later. Seventeenth century ac- 
counts would indicate at least double 
the number of Mohawks living along 
the river, compared with eighteenth 
century figures obtainable. Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, at one time, gives the 
available fighting strength of the Mo- 
hawks as 150 warriors, which seems a 
very low figure. However the tribe 
could not have much exceeded six 
hundred people, as their castle at Fort 
Hunter (in the eighteenth century) is 
described as their largest village, and 
only contained 30 huts. The Great 
Hendrick and Joseph Brant are the 
leading figures of the Mohawks in the 
century preceding the Revolution. 
Both were residents of the old Cana- 
joharie district which we are consid- 
ering. The famous Seneca chief Corn- 
planter comes into our story and he 
had local interest as being the son of 
John Abeel, a Fort Plain trader. All 
of these are considered at greater 
length later. 



Mr. John Fea of Amsterdam is the 
author of a very interesting article 
on "Indian Trails of the Mohawk Val- 
ley," which was published in the Fort 
Plain Standard in December, 1908. 
From this publication are taken the 
extracts which follow. The trip of the 
Dutch explorers, which Mr. Fea nar- 
rated, is of great local interest because 
it covers so much of the old Canajo- 
harie district along the Mohawk and 
describes in detail the Indian villages 
of that tribe, of which a great part 
seems to have been located in the dis- 
trict mentioned. 

Mr. Fea's paper says that this was 
"an expedition to the Mohawk and 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Seneca Indians' coulitry undertaken 
by three Dutchmen with five Mohawk 
Indians as guides in 1634-5. To us 
their journey through our own part of 
the Mohawk valley ought to be es- 
pecially interesting, as they proceed 
from one Indian village to another. 
This journal is the earliest written 
description of the Mohawk valley. 
*=!:** rphe motive of the expedi- 
tion from Fort Orange, as stated in 
the journal, was to investigate the 
movements of the French traders, 
who were holding out greater induce- 
ments than the Dutch were giving, 
thereby persuading the Mohawks to 
go and trade their rich furs in Canada. 
They left P'ort Orange on Dec. 11, 1634. 
During a journey of two days' time 
they covered idVz English miles. This 
brought them up the Mohawk valley 
on the north s'de of the river to Yosts, 
near the 'Nose,' at a little house in 
which they lodged over night. This 
Indian house, according to this jour- 
nal, was one-half mile from the first 
castle, which was built on a high hill, 
where they found 36 houses in rows 
like a street. The name of the castle 
was Onekagonka. The evidence of this 
village can be found on the bank of 
Wasontah creek on the Vrooman farm 
near the 'Nose.' After three days so- 
journ at Onekagonka they continued 
westward over the ice on the river a 
Dutch half mile [a Dutch mile equal- 
ling two and one-fourth English 
miles] past a village of nine houses, 
named Canowarode. This is the pres- 
ent county house site [on the north 
side of the Mohawk] and the buildings 
are all on the Indian village site. They 
went another Dutch half mile and 
passed a village of 12 houses, named 
Senatsycrosy. They had then arrived 
at Sprakers. They continued past 
Sprakers one Dutch mile and came to 
the second castle with 12 houses built 
on a hill. This castle was named Can- 
agere. The expedition remained at 
Canagere three days. They received 
a supply of stores from Fort Orange. 
Among the stuff was ham, beer, salt, 
tobacco for the savages and a bottle 
of brandy. Three Indian women came 
from the Senecas peddling fish. They 



had salmon, dried and fresh, also a 
good quantity of green tobacco to sell. 

"Here the party employed an Indian 
to act as guide to the Senecas. As a 
retainer for his services they gave 
h'm half a yard of cloth, two axes, two 
knives, two pairs of awls and a pair 
of shoes. On this day, Dec. 19, [1634] 
there was a great rainfall. This cas- 
tle Canagere was on the Horatio Nel- 
lis farm. Dec. 20 they departed from 
the second castle and marched a Dutch 
mile to a stream they had to cross. 
The water ran swiftly. Big cakes of 
ice came drifting along; the rainfall 
of the previous day loosened the ice 
and they were in great danger if they 
lost their footing. Here then we be- 
hold Canajoharie creek. 

"After going another Dutch half 
mile they arrived at the third castle, 
named Sochanidisse. It had 32 houses 
and was on a very high hill. It was 
on the projecting point of land in the 
Happy Hollow district west of Canajo- 
harie on the Brown farm. They re- 
mained over night at this castle. The 
journal makes mention of plenty of 
flat land in the vicinity. They ex- 
changed here one awl for a beaver 
skin. 

"Dec. 21 they started very early in 
the morning for the fourth castle. 
After marching one-half Dutch mile 
they came to a village with only nine 
houses, named Osquage. The chief's 
name was Ognoho, 'the wolf.' This 
was at Prospect hill, near Fort Plain. 
They saw a big stream that their 
guide did not dare cross as the water 
had risen from the heavy rainfall, so 
they postponed their journey until the 
next day. The stream we recognize is 
the raging Otsquago. The next day 
they waded through the stream and, 
after going one-half Dutch mile, came 
to a village of 14 houses, named Ca- 
woge. This was on the Lipe farm 
west of Fort Plain [at the site of the 
Revolutionary post]. After going an- 
other Dutch mile they arrived at the 
fourth and last castle of the Mo- 
hawks, named Tenotoge. This was 
the largest village in the valley at 
that period. There were 55 houses, 
some 100 paces long. Here is men- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



tioned a very definite landmark on the 
trail. 'The Kill (river), we spoke 
about before, runs past here, and the 
course is mostly north by west and 
south by east.' So reads the journal. 

"Tenotoge was on the Sponable and 
Moyer farms, two miles northwest of 
Fort Plain. Accompanied by Andrew 
H. Moyer, I counted 69 deep and well 
defined corn pits on adjoining land, 
then owned by Adam Failing. The 
whole site covered about ten acres of 
ground. Abundant evidence of pali- 
sades was found by the Moyer family 
when they broke up the ground. This 
large and important Indian castle has 
never been mentioned in New York 
state aboriginal records. 

"At St. Johnsville the river course 
is due east. It then commences to 
curve southerly and from Palatine 
Church its course is almost due south 
to Fort Plain, a distance of three 
miles. On the elevated ground west 
of the river, nearly opposite Palatine 
Church, was located the great Mo- 
hawk castle, Tenotoge. From this ele- 
vation they saw the Mohawk river 
course north and south as we may see 
it today. At this point the old Ca- 
nadian trail was intersected at the 
river. From here they [the Dutch ex- 
plorers] departed over the wilderness 
trail westward, passing the south edge 
of the Timmerman farm at Dutch- 
town, and what was known by the pio- 
neers of Dutchdorf as the old Indian 
trail to the Senecas." 

This important castle of the Mo- 
hawks must have been the largest vil- 
lage, inhabited by human beings, in 
this section of the present state of 
New York; and it was located cen- 
trally within the limits of the present 
town of Minden. Its site was doubt- 
less infiuenced by the junction of the 
Canadian trail with the river trail at 
the Caroga ford. 

"The whole Mohawk valley at an 
early period was interlaced with In- 
dian trails. The main ones from the 
Hudson river passed along both sides 
of the Mohawk. From the head of 
Lake George two trails led to the Mo- 
hawk river. The first led southwest- 
ward through a valley between Potash 



and Bucktail mountains in Warren 
county to the ford at Luzerne on the 
Hudson river below the mouth of the 
Sacandaga, thence along the Sacan- 
daga to the Vlaie at Northampton. On 
leaving the Vlaie the trail took a 
westward direction along the south 
side of Mayfield creek to Kings- 
borough, thence down the Cayadutta 
to Johnstown, continuing its course on 
the west side of the Cayadutta to the 
present village of Sammonsville. From 
this place the trail took a circuitous 
course over Klipse hill, thence through 
Stone Arabia to the ford at the mouth 
of Caroga creek. This was the prin- 
cipal route from the west into Can- 
ada via Lake George and was a favor- 
ite route traversed by the Oneidas, and 
as such possibly gives reason why, in 
1751, William Johnson secured from 
the Indians, for 'himself and others,' 
the Kingsborough tract of land, and 
later taking up his residence on the 
great Indian trail that passed 
through it." 



CHAPTER 11. 

1616-1772— Indians— Mohawk Valley 
Discovery — Settlement — Sir William 
Johnson. 

The Mohawks were the most eastern 
of the Five Nations. They claimed a 
region extending from Albany, on the 
Hudson, westerly to the headwaters 
of the Susquehanna and Delaware, and 
thence northerly to the St. Lawrence 
river and embracing all the land be- 
tween this river and Lake Champlain. 
Their actual northern limits were not 
definitely fixed, but they appear to 
have claimed as hunting grounds, all 
the lands between the St. Lawrence 
and St. Johns river. This was a sub- 
ject of continual dispute between them 
and other tribes. Canada was settled 
by the French in 1608. In 1609 Cham- 
plain and his party of Canadian In- 
dians defeated a band of Iroquois 
(probably Mohawks), in battle, in the 
present town of Ticonderoga between 
Lake George and Crown Point. In 
1615 Champlain and ten other French- 
men joined the Hurons and Adiron- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



dacks in an expedition against the 
Five Nations. The Iroquois signally 
defeated this force, in the Onondaga 
country. Champlam was wounded 
twice and the invaders fled back to 
Canada. The first white man to ex- 
plore this region was probably a 
Canadian Franciscian priest, LaCarnon, 
who entered this field as missionary in 
1616 and was undoubtedly the first 
white man to behold the upper reaches 
of this famous river and its beautiful 
valley. In 1609 Dutch saUors from 
the Half Moon passed the mouth of 
the Mohawk and the Dutch may have 
then penetrated its lower valley a 
short distance. Jesuits, who in the 
interests of trade, as well as re- 
ligion, went alone and unarmed, suc- 
ceeded the Francisians in 1633. Three 
of these Jesuits suffered martyrdom 
at the hands of the Mohawks. The 
captivity and fate of Jogues exemplify 
the persistence of the Jesuits and the 
heroism with which they met death. 
In 1642 he and and a number of others 
were captured by Iroquois on the St. 
T^awrence. They came into the hands 
of the Mohawks near Lake George and 
were compelled to run the gauntlet. 
On reaching the villages of the Mo- 
hawks, Jogues was made to run the 
gauntlet twice more for their amuse- 
ment, agonizing a white man being 
then a novelty to the savages. During 
his captivity he was frequently tor- 
tured with the most heartless cruelty. 
His fingers and toes were removed 
joint by joint and his body and limbs 
mutilated with burning sticks and hot 
irons. He suffered in this way for 15 
months, when, through the influence 
of the Dutch, he was released and re- 
turned to France. He came back to 
the Mohawk in 1646 to prosecute his 
missionary work. The savages did not 
take kindly to him or his teachings 
and he was put to death by the most 
excruciating tortures, the Indians of 
course, being masters of the knowl- 
edge of every conceivable pain and 
agony which could be inflicted on the 
human body. The site of this martyr- 
dom was at the Mohawk village of 
Caughnawaga, where Fonda now 
stands. The Jesuits kept up their 



missionary work on these same sav- 
ages and finally, in 1670, converted 
them and induced them to move to 
Canada. 

In 1659, the Mohawks, suffering from 
their conflicts with the French and 
from the crippling of their warriors by 
the sale of liquor to them by the Dutch, 
sent a delegation to Albany asking 
that the sale of spirits be suppressed 
among them and for aid against their 
enemies. A council concerning these 
matters was held between the Dutch 
and Mohawks at Caughnawaga in 
1659, which was the first ever held in 
the Mohawk country. The governor 
of Canada, in 1666, tried to destroy 
the Mohawks, but only succeeded in 
burning their villages, as the warriors 
took to the woods. Troubles between 
the Mohicans and Mohawks followed, 
without much advantage to either. 
The Iroquois, including the Mohawks, 
were thoroughly won over to the En- 
glish side by Gov. Dongan in 1684. In 
1690 the French and Indians descended 
on Schenectady and Ijurned that town; 
60 people were killed and 27 captured, 
a few of the survivors escaping 
through the deep snow to Albany. In 
1693 Count Frontenac captured the 
lower and middle Mohawk castles 
without much trouble, but had a hard 
fight at the upper castle; 300 Mohawks 
were taken prisoners. The people of 
Schenectady failed to warn their In- 
dian neighbors, which greatly incensed 
them. Schuyler, with the Albany mi- 
litia, pursued this French party and 
retook 50 Mohawk captives. For the 
last half century of the tribal exist- 
ence of the Mohawks in the valley, 
they had but two castles, one called 
Canajoharie, situated at the present 
Indian Castle, in the town of Danube, 
Herkimer county, and the other, called 
Dyiondarogon, on the lower or east 
bank of the Schoharie creek at its 
junction with the Mohawk. 

The first white valley settlement was 
by the Dutch in 1663 at Schenectady, 
under the Dutch rule of the colony. 
The next west of Schenectady was 
that of Heinrich Frey at Palatine 
Bridge in 1688. Their country, de- 
vastated by war, in 1708, a large body 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



of German immigrants, from the Pal- 
atinate on tlie Rliine, landed in New 
York and were settled on the Hudson, 
where their treatment by the province 
is open to great criticism. In 1711 
their number was said to be 1,761, but 
they had no idea of remaining in their 
deplorable condition. In the expedi- 
tion of Col. Nicholson for the reduc- 
tion of Canada in 1711, 300 Palatines 
enlisted to escape their condition of 
almost servitude. In 1711 some of 
them moved to the Schoharie valley 
and some are supposed to have settled 
in Palatine about that date. They are 
said to have threaded on foot an in- 
tricate Indian trail, bearing upon their 
backs their worldly possessions, con- 
sisting of "a few rude tools, a scanty 
supply of provisions, a meagre ward- 
robe, and a small number of rusty fire- 
arms." In 1723 numbers of the Pala- 
tines emigrated to Pennsylvania, 
others moved up and settled in the 
districts of Canajoharie and Palatine 
and along the Mohawk, and by 1725 
there were settlements of these Ger- 
mans extending up the river from 
the "Noses" to German Flats, the east- 
ern part of the valley being settled by 
Dutch farmers. 

October 19, 1723, the Stone Arabia 
patent was granted to 27 Palatines, 
who, with their families, numbered 127 
persons. The tract conveyed by this 
deed contained 12,700 acres. The 
names of these pioneer settlers of the 
district which was later to become 
Palatine were: Digert, Schell, Cremse, 
Garlack, Dillinbeck, Emiger, Vocks, 
Lawyer, Peink, Frey, Diegert, Copper- 
noil, Peiper, Seibert, Casselman, Fink, 
Ingolt, Erchart, Nelse. 

The story of the Mohawk valley 
from 1738 to 1772, the date of the for- 
mation of Tryon county, is largely the 
biography of that picturesque figure, 
Sir William Johnson. In order that 
the reader may better understand 
the subsequent history of the Can- 
ajohar'e and Palatine districts, the 
following account is given of Sir Wil- 
liam's life, taken from Beers' history: 

"Sir William Johnson was born at 
Warrentown in the county of Down, 
Ireland, in 1715. In 173S, at the age 



of 23, he was sent into the Mohawk 
valley to superintend a large estate, 
the title to which had been acquired 
by his uncle. Sir Peter Warren, a Brit- 
ish admiral. This tract containing 
some 15,000 acres, lay along the south 
bank of the Mohawk near the mouth 
of Schoharie creek, and mostly within 
the present town of Florida. It was 
called, from its proprietor, Warrens- 
bush. Here Johnson came to promote 
his uncle's interests by the sale of 
small farms and his own interests by 
acquiring and cultivating land for him- 
seif, and their joint interests by keep- 
ing a store in which they were part- 
ners. In 1743 he became connected 
with the fur trade at Oswego and de- 
rived a great revenue from this and 
other dealings with the Indians. Hav- 
ing early resolved to remain in the 
Mohawk valley, he applied himself ear- 
nestly to the study of the character 
and language of the natives. By freely 
mingling with them and adopting their 
habits when it suited his interests, he 
soon gained their good will and con- 
fidence, and gradually acquired an as- 
cendancy over them never possessed 
bj- any other European. A few years 
after Johnson's arrival on the Mohawk 
he purchased a tract of land on the 
north side of the river. In 1744 he 
built a gristmill on a small stream 
flowing into the Mohawk from the 
north, about three miles west of the 
present city of Amsterdam. He also 
erected a stone mansion at this place 
for his own residence, calling it Fort 
Johnson. [This fine old building still 
stands and bears its own name, which 
it has also given to the town about it 
and the ra'lroad station there.] John- 
son also bought, from time to time, 
great tracts of land north of the Mo- 
hawk, and at some distance from it, 
mostly within thepresent limit of Ful- 
ton county. He subsequently became 
possessed, by gift from the Indians 
which was confirmed by the Crown, of 
the great tract of land in what is now 
Herkimer county, known as the Royal 
Grant. 

"The Mohawk river early became 
the great thoroughfare toward Lake 
Ontario for the Colonists in prosecut- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



ing their trade with the Indians. Gov. 
Burnet realized the importance of con- 
trolling the lake for the purpose of 
commerce and resistance to the en- 
croachments of the French and ac- 
cordingly established in 1722 a trading 
post and in 1727 a fort at Oswego. The 
French met this measure by the con- 
struction of defenses at Niagara, to 
intercept the trade from the upper 
lakes. This movement was ineffectu- 
ally opposed by the Iroquois, who, to 
obtain assistance from the English, 
gave a deed of their territory to the 
King of England, who was to protect 
them in the possession of it. To de- 
fend the frontier, which was exposed 
to invasions by the French, especially 
after their erection of the fortification 
of Crown Point, settlements were pro- 
posed and Capt. Campbell, a Highland 
chief, came over in 1737 to view the 
lands offered, which were 30,000 acres. 
Four hundred Scotch adults came over 
and many of them settled in and about 
Saratoga, becoming the pioneers of 
that section, as the Palatines were of 
the upper half of the Mohawk. This 
settlement was surprised by French 
and Indians in 1745 who burned all 
the buildings and killed or captured 
almost the whole population, 30 fami- 
lies being massacred. The village of 
Hoosic was similarly destroyed, and 
consternation prevailed in the outlying 
settlements, many of the people fleeing 
to Albany. The Six Nations wavered 
in their attachment to the English. 
At this juncture, Sir William Johnson 
was entrusted with the sole manage- 
ment of the Iroquois. [He succeeded 
Col. Schuyler of Albany, the former 
Indian commissioner.] It is his ser- 
vices in this most important and deli- 
cate position, wherein he stood for a 
large part of his life as the mediator 
between two races, whose position and 
aims made them almost inevitably 
hostile, that constitutes his strongest 
claim to lasting and favorable remem- 
brance. His knowledge of the lan- 
guage, customs and manners of the 
Indians, and the complete confidence 
which they always reposed in him, 
qualified him for this position. A high 
officer of his government, he was also 



in 1746 formally invested by the Mo- 
hawks with the rank of a chief in that 
nation, to whom he was afterward 
known as Warraghegagey. In Indian 
costume he shortly after led the tribe 
to a council at Albany. He was ap- 
pointed a colonel in the British ser- 
vice about this time, and by his di- 
rection of the Colonial troops and the 
Iroquois warriors, the frontier settle- 
ments were to a great extent saved 
from devastation by the French and 
their Indian allies, the settlements to 
the north of Albany, being an unhappy 
exception, while occasional murders 
and scalpings occurred even along the 
Mohawk. Johnson's influence with the 
Indians was increased by his having a 
Mohawk woman, Molly Brant, a sister 
of the famous Chief Joseph Brant, liv- 
ing with him as his wife the latter part 
of his life. 

"Peace nominally existed between 
France and England from 1748 to 1756, 
but hostilities between their American 
colonies broke out as early as 1754. In 
the following year, 1755, Col. Johnson 
was appointed a major general and led 
the expedition against Crown Point 
which resulted in the distastrous de- 
feat of the French near Lake George. 
At the same time with his military 
promotion he was reappointed super- 
intendent of Indian affairs, having re- 
signed that office in 1750, on account of 
the neglect of the government to pay 
some of his claims. On resuming the 
superintendency. General Johnson 
held a council with the Iroquois at his 
house. Fort Johnson, which resulted in 
about 250 of their warriors following 
him to Lake George. The victory there 
gained was the only one in a generally 
disastrous year, and General John- 
son's services were rewarded by a bar- 
onetcy and the sum of £5,000 voted by 
Parliament. He was also thereafter 
paid £600 annually as the salary of 
his office over the Indians. 

"In the spring of 1756 measures were 
taken for fortifying the portages be- 
tween Schenectady and Oswego, by 
way of the Mohawk, Wood creek, One- 
ida lake and the Oswego river, with a 
view to keeping open communication 
between Albany and the fort at Os- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



wego. The latter was in danger of be- 
ing taken by the French. Tardily 
moved the provincial authorities and 
it was but a few days before Oswego 
was invested that Gen. Webb was sent 
with a regiment to reinforce the garri- 
son and Sir William Johnson, with two 
battalions of militia and a body of In- 
dians, shortly followed. Before Webb 
reached Oneida lake, he was inform- 
ed that the besieged post had surren- 
dered, and he promptly turned about 
and fled down the Mohawk to German 
Flats, where he met Johnson's force. 
The fort at Oswego was demolished by 
the French, greatly to the satisfaction 
of most of the Iroquois, who had al- 
ways regarded it with alarm, and who 
now made treaties with the victors; 
and the Mohawk valley, exposed to the 
enemy was ranged by scalping parties 
of Canadian savages. 

"The Mohawks, through the influ- 
ence of Sir William Johnson, remained 
faithful to the English. The Baronet, 
with a view to counteract the impres- 
sion made upon the Six Nations by 
the French successes, summoned them 
to meet him in council at Fort John- 
son, in June, 1756. Previous to their 
assembling a circumstance occurred 
which rendered negotiations at once 
necessary and less hopeful. A party 
of Mohawks, while loitering around 
Fort Hunter, became involved in a 
quarrel with some soldiers of the gar- 
rison, resulting in sofne of the Indians 
being severely wounded. The Mo- 
hawk tribe felt extremely revengeful, 
but Johnson succeeded in pacifying 
them and winning over the Oneidas 
and Tuscaroras to the English inter- 
est. In the beginning of August, 1756, 
Sir William Johnson led a party of In- 
dian warriors and militia to the relief 
of Fort William Henry at the head of 
Lake George, which was besieged by 
Montcalm; but on reaching Fort Ed- 
ward his progress was arrested by the 
cowardice of Gen. Webb, who was 
there in command, and who used his 
superior authority to leave the besieg- 
ed fortress to its fate, which was a 
speedy surrender. The provincials, 
thoroughly disgusted by the disasters 
incurred through incompetency and 



cowardice of their English officers, now 
deserted in great numbers, and the In- 
dians followed suit. 

"Soon after the capture of Fort Wil- 
liam Henry, rumors gained circulation 
that a large force of French and In- 
dians was preparing to invade the set- 
tlements along the Mohawk. The Pal- 
atines who had settled on the Burnets- 
field Patent, were evidently most ex- 
posed, and feeling but poorly protect- 
ed by what fortifications there were 
among them, they were several times 
during the autumn on the point of de- 
serting their dwellings and removing 
to the settlements further down the 
river which were better defended. The 
rumors seeming to prove groundless, 
they became careless and finally neg- 
lected all precautions against an at- 
tack. Meanwhile an expedition of 
about 300 Canadian, French and In- 
dians, under command of one Belletre, 
came down from Canada by way of the 
Black river, and at 3 o'clock in the 
morning of Nov, 12, 1756, the Palatine 
village, at the present site of Herki- 
mer, was surrounded. This settlement 
contained 60 dwellings and 4 block- 
houses and the inhabitants were 
aroused by the horrid warwhoop, 
which was the signal of attack. The 
invaders rushed upon the blockhouses 
and were met with an active fire of 
musketry. The little garrison soon 
seemed to become panic stricken, both 
by the overwhelming numbers and the 
bloodcurdling yells of the savages and 
the active fighting of the French. The 
mayor of the village, who was in com- 
mand, opened the door of one block- 
house and called for quarter. The gar- 
risons of the other blockhouses follow- 
ed his example. These feeble defences, 
with all the other buildings in the set- 
tlement, were fired and the inhabi- 
tants, in attempting to escape were 
tomahawked and scalped. About 40 of 
the Germans were thus massacred, and 
more than 100 persons, men, women 
and children, were carried into cap- 
tivity by the marauders as they retired 
laden with booty. This they did not 
do, until they had destroj'^ed a great 
amount of grain and provisions, and 
as Belletre reported, slaughtered 3,000 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



cattle, as many sheep, and 1,500 horses 
[figures now generally supposed to be 
exaggerated beyond any semblance of 
truth.] 

"Although the marauders hastily 
withdrew the entire valley was thrown 
into panic. Many of the inhabitants of 
the other Mohawk settlements hasten- 
ed to send their goods to Albany and 
Schenectady with the intention of fol- 
lowing them, and for a time the upper 
towns were threatened with entire de- 
sertion. The Palatine settlement at 
Fort Herkimer, near the one whose 
destruction has been related, was sim- 
ilarly visited in April, 1758. Lieut. 
Herkimer was here in command. The 
militia, under Sir William Johnson, 
rendezvoused at Canajoharie, but the 
enemy withdrew and did not after ap- 
pear in force in this quarter. About 
this time Johnson, with 300 Indian 
warriors, chiefly Mohawks, joined 
Abercrombie's expedition against 
Crown Point, where the English were 
disastrously repulsed. Fear again 
reigned in the Mohawk valley but the 
French did not follow up their advan- 
tage in this quarter. 

"In spite of this disaster, the suc- 
cesses of the English, elsewhere in 
1758, made so favorable an impression 
on the Six Nations, that Sir William 
Johnson was enabled to bring nearly 
1,000 warriors to join Gen. Prideaux's 
expedition against Niagara in the fol- 
lowing summer, which the Baronet 
conducted to a successful issue after 
Prideaux's death by the accidental ex- 
plosion of a shell. Sir William in 1760, 
led 1,300 Iroquois warriors in Gen. 
Amherst's expedition against Montreal 
which extinguished the French power 
in America." 

Sir William removed in 1763 to 
Johnstown where he built himself a 
residence and buildings on his great 
estate. Here grew up the county seat 
of the new and great county of Tryon, 
formed in 1772, and here he died, as 
elsewhere described, in 1774. Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson was perhaps the most 
remarkable man of the many who fig- 
ure in the record of Tryon county. 
Nothing in the state's history is more 
interesting than this spot of civiliza- 



tion in a vast, savage wilderness, pre- 
sided over by an Irish gentleman who 
was at once a benevolent dictator and 
a virtual regent over a territory larger 
than some famous kingdoms of his- 
tory, and over a white people strug- 
gling toward civilization and the red 
men who were trying to keep their 
wild domains for their hunting 
grounds. 

The well known story of how John- 
son became possessed of the Royal 
Grant deserves a place here. Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson obtained over 60,000 
acres of choice land, now lying chiefly 
in Herkimer county, north of the Mo- 
hawk, in the following manner: The 
Mohawk sachem, Hendrick, being at 
the baronet's house, saw a richly em- 
broidered coat and coveted it. The 
next morning he said to Sir William: 

"Brother, me dream last night." 

"Indeed, what did my red brother 
dream" asked Johnson. 

"Me dream that coat be mine." 

"It is yours," said the shrewd Irish 
baronet. 

Not long afterward Sir William vis- 
ited the chief, and he too, had a dream. 

"Brother, I dreamed last night," said 
Jolinson, 

"What did my pale-faced brother 
dream?" asked Hendrick. 

"I dreamed that this tract of land 
was mine," describing a square bound- 
ed on the south by the Mohawk, on 
the east by Canada creek, and north 
and west by objects equally well 
known. 

Hendrick was astounded. He saw 
the enormity of the request, but was 
not to be outdone in generosity. He 
sat thoughtfully for a moment and 
then said, "Brother, the land is yours, 
but you must not dream again." 

The title was confirmed by the Brit- 
ish government and the tract was 
called the Royal Grant. 



King Hendrick (also called the 
Great Hendrick) occupied, in the 
early eighteenth century, a position in 
the Mohawk tribe, similar to that held 
by Brant at the time of the Revolution. 
Hendrick was born about 1680 and 
generally lived at the upper Mohawk 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



castle (in Danube), being thus a resi- 
dent of the old Canajoharie district. 
He stood high in the estimation of Sir 
William Johnson and was one of the 
most active and sagacious sachems of 
his time. Hendrick, with a large body 
of Iroquois, accompanied Johnson on 
his Lake George expedition and was 
killed in the action (Sept. 8, 1755) 
which resulted in a victory against the 
French and Indians under Baron 
Dieskau. Prior to this battle, Johnson 
determined to send out a small party 
to meet Dieskau's advance and the 
opinion of Hendrick was asked. He 
shrewdly said: "If they are to fight 
they are too few; if they are to be 
killed they are too many." His objec- 
tion to the proposition to separate 
them into three divisions was quite as 
sensibly and laconically expressed. 
Taking three sticks and putting them 
together, he remarked, "Put them to- 
gether and you can't break them. Take 
them one by one and you can break 
them easily." Johnson was guided by 
the opinion of Hendrick and a force of 
1,200 men in one body under Col. Wil- 
liams was sent out to meet the French 
and Indians. Before commencing their 
march, Hendrick mounted a gun-car- 
riage and harangued his warriors in a 
strain of eloquence which had a pow- 
erful effect upon them. He was then 
over 70 years old. His head was cov- 
ered with long white locks and every 
warrior loved him with the deepest 
veneration. Lieut.-Col. Pomeroy, who 
was present and heard this Indian ora- 
tion, said that, although he did not 
understand a word of the language, 
such was the animation of Hendrick, 
the fire of his eye, the force of his ges- 
tures, the strength of his emphasis, 
the apparent propriety of the inflec- 
tions of his voice, and the natural ap- 
pearance of his whole manner, that he 
himself was more deeply affected by 
this speech than with any other he 
had ever heard. In the battle which 
followed, resulting in the rout of the 
Canadian force, Hendrick was killed, 



Baron Dieskau was mortally wounded 
and Johnson was wounded in the 
thigh. Lossing speaks of Gen John- 
son's conduct in this campaign as 
"careless and apathetic." Hendrick 
visited England and had his portrait 
painted in a full court dress which was 
presented to him by the king. This 
Mohawk sachem is one of the greatest 
characters in the history of the re- 
markable tribe of savage residents of 
this valley. In 1754, commissioners 
from the different colonies met at Al- 
bany to consider plans for a general 
colonial alliance, and to this confer- 
ence the Six Nations were invited. 
This Albany council was the initial 
step in the formation of the United 
States of America. Hendrick attended 
and delivered a telling speech in ref- 
erence to the inefficient military pol- 
icy of the British governors. This ad- 
dress shows the frankness and com- 
mon sense of the old warrior and is 
reported as follows: 

"Brethren, we have not as yet con- 
firmed the peace with them. (Mean- 
ing the French-Indian allies.) 'Tis 
your fault, brethren, we are not 
strengthened by conquest, for we 
should have gone and taken Crown 
Point, but you hindered us. We had 
concluded to go and take it, but were 
told it was too late, that the ice would 
not bear us. Instead of this you burn- 
ed your own fort at Sarraghtogee 
[near old Fort Hardy] and ran away 
from it, which was a shame and scan- 
dal to you. Look about your country 
and see; you have no fortifications 
about you — no, not even to this city. 
'Tis but one step from Canada hither, 
and the French maj^ easily come and 
turn you out of doors. Brethren, you 
were desirous we should open our 
minds and our hearts to you; look at 
the French, they are men — they are 
fortifying everywhere; but, we are 
ashamed to say it, you are like women, 
bare and open, without any fortifica- 
tions." 



10 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



CHAPTER III. 

1774 — Johnson Hall— Sir William, Sir 

John, Joseph and Molly Brant. 

While Johnstown was not in the 
districts of either Canajoharie or Pal- 
atine, but was located in the Mohawk 
district, still it was the county seat 
and thus of importance to all of 
Tryon. The influence of the John- 
son party was so strong before 
the Revolution and they formed such 
a large element of the Tory invaders 
of the valley that a glance at the 
Johnson Hall of pre-Revolutionary 
times is in order. This was the real 
seat of government in Tryon county. 
From the following standard accounts 
may readily be gained the secret of 
Sir William Johnson's tremendous 
popularity with the Indians and with 
all classes of the settlers. Prior to 
the Revolution Johnson Hall was the 
center of the political and social life of 
the county and for the people of its 
five districts of Mohawk, Canajoharie, 
Palatine, German Plats and Kingsland. 

Beer's History of Montgomery and 
Fulton Counties (1878) gives the fol- 
lowing account of Johnson Hall and the 
life about it prior to the death of Sir 
William Johnson in 1774: "After a res- 
idence of 24 years in the eastern part 
of the present county of Montgomery 
[at Fort Johnson], during which he 
had gained an immense estate by the 
profits of trade 'and the generosity of 
his Indian neighbors and had won a 
baronetcy by his successful campaign 
against the French and their Indian 
allies in 1755, Sir William removed to 
a stately mansion finished by him in 
the spring of 1763. The motive as- 
signed for the baronet's removal to 
this neighborhood is the promotion of 
settlements on his large domains here- 
abouts, on which he had already set- 
tled over one hundred families, gen- 
erally leasing but sometimes selling 
the land. Among those to whom he 
leased, with the supposed purpose of 
establishing a baronial estate for his 
descendants, were Dr. William Adams; 
Gilbert Tice, innkeeper; Peter Young, 
miller; William Phillips, wagon- 



maker; James Davis, hatter; Peter 
Yost, tanner; Adrian Van Sickler, 
Maj. John Little and Zephaniah 
Bachelor. 

"Johnson Hall, as Sir William John- 
son named his new residence, at 
Johnstown, was at that time one of 
the finest mansions in the state out- 
side of New York city. During its 
eleven years occupancy, like his for- 
mer home on the Mohawk, it was a 
place of frequent resort for his Indian 
friends for grave councils and for less 
serious affairs. Here at the Hall, 
Johnson had the Indians hold annu- 
ally a tournament of their national 
games. Concerning this, Gov. Sey- 
mour wrote: 'It was from this spot 
that the agents went forth to treat 
with the Indians of the west, and keep 
the chain of friendship bright. Here 
came the scouts from the forests and 
lakes of the north to tell of any dan- 
gerous movements of the enemy. Here 
were written the reports to the Crown, 
which were to shape the policy of na- 
tions; and to this place were sent the 
orders that called upon the settlers 
and savages to go out upon the war 
path.' Among the more illustrious 
guests of Colonial times, who divided 
with the Iroquois braves, the hospitali- 
ties of Johnson Hall were: Lady 
O'Brian, daughter of the Earl of II- 
chester; Lord Gordon, whom Sir John 
Johnson accompanied to England, 
where he was knighted; Sir Henry 
Moore, governor of New York; Gov. 
Franklin of New Jersey, and other Co- 
lonial dignitaries. [Johnson Hall is 
still (1912) standing at Johnstown and 
is a most interesting place of resort 
for those who care for matters con- 
cerning Colonial New York and its 
life.] It is a wooden building sixty 
feet in length by forty In width, and 
two stories high, facing southeast- 
wardly across lands sloping to the ad- 
joining creek, on the higher ground 
beyond which the city stands. A 
spacious hall, fifteen feet wide crossed 
it in the center, into which on each 
floor opened large and lofty rooms 
wainscotted. with pine panels and 
heavy carved work. At either end of 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



11 



the northwestern wall, a little apart 
from the house stood a square stone 
structure, loopholed, to serve as a 
blockhouse for the defense of the Hall. 
They were part of the fortifications, 
including a stockade, thrown up 
around the Hall in 1763, in apprehen- 
sion of an attack by the vestern tribes 
under Pontiac. 

"Whatever time Sir W'lliam's official 
duties left him, was actively employed 
in the improvement of his estate and 
the condition of agriculture in the set- 
tlement. We find him obtaining su- 
perior seed oats from Saybrook, Conn., 
scions for grafting from Philadelphia, 
fruit trees from New London and 
choice seed from England. He de- 
lighted in horticulture and had a fa- 
mous garden and nursery to the south 
of the Hall. He was the first to in- 
troduce sheep and blooded horses In 
the Mohawk valley. Fairs were held 
under his supervision at Johnstown, 
the baronet paying the premiums. His 
own farming was done by ten or fif- 
teen slaves under an overseer named 
Flood. They and their families lived 
in cabins built for them across Caya- 
dutta creek from the Hall. They 
dressed very much like the Indians, 
but wore coats made from blankets 
on the place. Sir William's legal af- 
fairs were conducted by a lawyer- 
secretary named Lefferty, who was the 
county surrogate at the time of John- 
son's death. A family physician nam- 
ed Daly was retained by the baronet, 
serving also as his social companion 
in numerous pleasure excursions. A 
butler, a gardener, a tailor and a black- 
smith were among the emploj'es at the 
Hall, across the road from which the 
last two had shops. 

"Sir William took a constant and 
lively interest in the welfare of his 
tenants, not only extending his bounty 
to their material needs, but providing 
for their spiritual and intellectual 
wants. One of his devices for their 
entertainment was the institution of 
'sport days' at the Hall, at which the 
yeomanry of the neighborhood com- 
peted in the field sports of England, 
especially boxing and footracing. In 



the latter the contestants sometimes 
ran with their feet in bags [the mod- 
ern sack race] and more amusement 
was furnished by horse races in which 
the riders faced backward; by the 
chase of the greased pig and the 
climbing of the greased pole; and by 
the efforts, of another class of com- 
petitors, to make the wryest face and 
sing the worst song, the winner being 
rewarded with a bearskin jacket and 
a few pounds of tobacco. A bladder 
of Scotch snuff was awarded to the 
greatest scold in a contest between 
two old women. 

"Johnson died July 11, 1774, aged 59 
years. He had long been liable to at- 
tacks of dysentery. In combating his 
disease he had, in 1767, visited and 
drunk of the spring, now famous as 
the High Rock of Saratoga. He is be- 
lieved to have been the first white 
man to visit this spring, whose medi- 
cal virtues had been reported to him 
by the Mohawks, a band of whom ac- 
companied him to the spot, bearing 
him part of the way through the wil- 
derness on a litter. His cure was only 
partial but even that becoming known, 
was the foundation of the popularity 
of the Saratoga springs. At the time 
of Sir William's death, the Indians 
were exasperated over the outrages 
committed upon them by the Ohio 
frontiersmen, including the butchery 
of the famous Logan's kindred. The 
Iroquois had come with an indignant 
complaint to Johnson Hall. On the 
day the baronet died, he addressed 
them for over two hours under a burn- 
ing sun. Immediately after he was 
taken with an acute attack of his mal- 
ady and shortly died. Johnson had 
prophesied that he would never live to 
take part in the struggle which all saw 
was then impending. 

"The baronet's funeral took place on 
the Wednesday following his death 
and the pall bearers included Gov. 
Franklin of New Jersey and the judges 
of the New York supreme court. 
Among the cortege of 2,000 people who 
followed the remains to their burial, 
under the chancel of the stone church 



12 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



which Sir William had erected in the 
village, were the 600 Indians who had 
gathered at the Hall. These, on the 
next day, performed their ceremony of 
condolence before the friends of the 
deceased, presenting symbolic belts of 
wampum with an appropriate ad- 
dress." 

Lossing in his "Pictorial Field Book 
of the Revolution," says of Johnson 
and Johnson's Hall: "Here Sir Wil- 
liam lived in all the eleg.ance and com- 
parative power of a English baron of 
the Middle Ages. ******* 
« * * * # jjig jjall was his castle 
and around it, beyond the wings a 
heavy stone breastwork, about twelve 
feet high, was thrown up. Invested 
with the power and influence of an 
Indian agent of his government in its 
transactions with the Confederated Six 
Nations, possessed of a fine person 
and dignity of manners, and a certain 
style of oratory that pleased the In- 
dians, he acquired an ascendancy over 
the tribes never before held by a white 
man. When in 1760, General Amherst 
embarked at Oswego on his expedi- 
tion to Canada, Sir William Johnson 
brought to him at that place, 1,000 In- 
dian warriors of the Six Nations, 
which was the largest number that 
had ever been seen in arms at one 
time in the cause of England. He 
made confidants of many of the chiefs, 
and to them was in the habit of giving 
a diploma testifying to their good con- 
duct. His house was the resort of the 
sachems of the Six Nations for coun- 
sel and for trade, and there the pres- 
ents, sent out by his government, were 
annually distributed to the Indians. On 
these occasions he amusad himself and 
gratified his guests by fetes and 
games, many of which were highly 
ludicrous. Young Indians and squaws 
were often seen running foot races or 
wrestling for trinkets, and feats of 
astonishing agility were frequently 
performed by the Indians of both 
sexes. ***** Sir William had 
two wives, although they were not 
made so until they had lived long with 
the baronet. Simms says that his first 
wife was a young German girl, who 



according to the custom of the times, 
had been sold to a man named Phil- 
lips living in the Mohawk valley, to 
pay her passage money to the captain 
of the emigrant ship in which she 
came to this country. She was a hand- 
some girl and attracted considerable 
attention. A neighbor of Sir William, 
who had heard him express a deter- 
mination never to marry, asked him 
why he did not get the pretty German 
girl for a housekeeper. He replied "I 
will." Not long afterward the neigh- 
bor called at Phillips's and inquired 
where the 'High Dutch' girl was. 
Phillips replied, 'Johnson, that tammed 
Irishman came tother day and offered 
me five pounds for her, threatening to 
horsewhip me and steal her if I would 
not sell her. I thought five pounds 
petter than a flogging and took it, and 
he's got the gal.' She was the mother 
of Sir John Johnson and two daugh- 
ters, who became the wives respec- 
tively of Guy Johnson and Daniel 
Claus. These two girls, who were 
left by their dying mother to the care 
of a friend, were educated almost in 
solitude. That friend was the widow 
of an officer who was killed in battle, 
and, retiring from the world, devoted 
her whole time to the care of these 
children. They were carefully in- 
structed in religious duties, and in 
various kinds of needlework, but were 
theinselves kept entirely from society. 
At the age of sixteen, they had never 
seen a lady, except their mother and 
her friend, or a gentleman, except Sir 
William, who visited their room daily. 
Their dress was not conformed to the 
fashions, but always consisted of 
wrappers of finest chintz over green 
silk petticoats. Their hair, which was 
long and beautiful, was tied behind 
with a simple band of ribbon. After 
their marriage they soon acquired the 
habits of society, and made excellent 
wives. When she [the German wife] 
was on her deathbed Sir William was 
married to her in order to legitimate 
her children. After her death, her 
place was supplied by Molly Brant, 
sister of the Mohawk sachem, by 
whom he had several children. To- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



13 



ward the close of his life, Sir William 
married her in order to legitimate her 
children also^ and her descendants are 
now some of the most respected peo- 
ple in upper Canada. Sir William's 
first interview and acquaintance with 
her * * * have considerable ro- 
mance. She was a very sprightly and 
beautiful girl, about sixteen, when he 
first saw her at a militia muster. One 
of the field officers, riding upon a fine 
horse came near her and, by way of 
banter, she asked permission to mount 
behind. Not supposing she could per- 
form the exploit, he said she might. 
At the word, she leaped upon the crup- 
per with the agility of a gazelle. The 
horse sprang off at full speed, and 
clinging to the officer, her blanket fly- 
ing and her dark hair streaming in 
the wind, she flew about the parade 
ground as swift as an arrow. The 
baronet, who was a witness of the 
spectacle, admiring the spirit of the 
young squaw and becoming enamored 
of her person, took her home as his 
wife. According to Indian customs, 
this act made her really his wife, and 
in all her relations of wife and mother 
she was very exemplary." 



Joseph Brant was the strongest sup- 
porter of the Tory cause among the Iro- 
quois. He was a full-booded Mohawk. 
His father was a chief of the Onon- 
daga nation and had three sons in 
the army with Sir William Johnson, 
under King Hendrick, in the battle at 
Lake George in 1755. Joseph Brant, 
his youngest son, whose Indian name 
was Thayendanegea, which signified a 
bundle of sticks or, in other words, 
strength, was born on the banks of 
the Ohio in 1742, whither his parents 
immigrated from the Mohawk valley. 
His mother returned to Canajoharie 
[district] with Mary or Molly and 
Thayendanegea or Joseph. His father 
Tehowaghwengaraghkwin, a chief of 
the Wolf tribe of the Mohawks, seems 
to have died in the Ohio country. Jo- 
seph's mother, after her return, mar- 
ried an Indian named Carrabigo 
(news-carrier), whom the whites 
named Barnet; but by way of contrac- 



tion, he was called Bardt and finally, 
Brant. Thayendanegea became known 
as Brant's Joseph or Joseph Brant. 
Sir William Johnson sent the young 
Mohawk to the school of Dr. Whee- 
lock of Lebanon Crank (now Colum- 
bia), Connecticut, and, after he was 
well educated, employed him as secre- 
tary and as agent in public affairs. 
He was employed as missionary in- 
terpreter from 1762 to 1765 and exert- 
ed himself for the religious instruction 
of the tribe. When the Revolution 
broke out, he attached himself to the 
British cause, and in 1775 left the Mo- 
hawk valley, went to Canada and fin- 
ally to England, where his education, 
and his business and social connec- 
tion with Sir William Johnson, gave 
him free access to the nobility. The 
Earl of Warwick commissioned Rom- 
ney, the eminent painter, to make a 
portrait of him for his collection, and 
from this celebrated painting most of 
the pictures of Branthave been repro- 
duced. Throughout the Revolution, at 
the head of the Indian forces, he was 
engaged in warfare chiefly upon the 
border settlements of New York and 
Pennsylvania, in connection with the 
Johnsons and Butlers. He held a 
colonel's commission from the King 
but he is generally called Captain 
Brant. After the peace in 1783, Brant 
again visited England, and on return- 
ing to America, devoted himself to the 
social and religious improvement of 
the Mohawks who were settled upon 
the Grand River in upper Canada up- 
on lands procured for them by Brant 
from Haldimand, governor of the 
province. This territory embraced six 
miles on both sides of the river from 
its mouth to its source. He translated 
the Gospel of St. Mark into the Mo- 
hawk language, and in many ways his 
efforts, for the uplifting of his people, 
were successful. He died at his resi- 
dence at the head of Lake Ontario, 
Nov. 24, 1807, aged 65. 



Sir John Johnson was the son of Sir 
William Johnson by his German wife. 
He was born in 1742 and succeeded to 
his father's title and estate in 1774, 



14 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



He was unsocial and without any of 
his father's brilliant cleverness. Soon 
after the close of the war, Sir John 
went to England and on returning in 
1785, settled in Canada. He was ap- 
pointed superintendent and inspector 
general of Indian affairs in North 
America and for several years he was 
a member of the Canadian legislative 
council. To compensate him for the 
loss of his Tryon county property 
through confiscation, the British gov- 
ernment made him several grants of 
land. He died at the house of his 
daughter, Mrs. Bowes, in Montreal, in 
1830, aged 88 years. His son, Adam 
Gordon Johnson, succeeded him in his 
title. 



to Col. Butler to say that he was far 
more humane than his son Walter. 
He died in Canada about 1800. 



John Butler was one of the leading 
Tories of Tryon county during the war 
of the Revolution. Before the war he 
was in close official connection with 
Sir William Johnson and, after his 
death, with his son and nephew. Sir 
John and Guy Johnson. When he fled 
with the Johnsons to Canada, his fam- 
ily were left behind and were subse- 
quently exchanged for the wife and 
children of Colonel Samuel Campbell 
of Cherry Valley. He was active in 
the predatory warfare that so long 
distressed Tryon county, and com- 
manded the 1,100 Tories and Indians 
who perpetrated the infamous Wyom- 
ing massacre in 1778. He was of the 
Tory and Indian force that fought Sul- 
livan and Clinton in the Indian country 
in 1779. He accompanied Sir John 
Johnson in his Schoharie and Mohawk 
valley raid of 1780 which ended so 
disastrously for them at Klock's Field. 
After the war he went to Canada. His 
property upon the Mohawk was con- 
fiscated, but he was made an Indian 
agent, succeeding Guy Johnson at a 
salary of $2,000 per year and was 
granted a pension, as a military offi- 
cer, of $1,000 more. Like his son, Wal- 
ter, he was detested for his cruelties 
by the more honorable English officers 
and, after the massacre at Wyoming, 
Sir Frederic Haldimand, then Gover- 
nor of Canada, sent word that he did 
not wish to see him. It is but justice 



CHAPTER IV. 

Minden from 1720-1738 — Sir George 
Clarke, Governor of the Province 
of New York, Establishes a Forest 
Home at Fort Plain — 1750, the Re- 
formed Church and First Store Es- 
tablished — 1755, a Minden Tragedy 
of the French War. 

The years immediately succeeding 
1720, when German settlers first locat- 
ed along the Mohawk in the Canajo- 
harie district, was a time of land 
clearing, building, and rude agricul- 
ture — ^^a period similar to that exper- 
ienced in the first few decades after 
settlement in all parts of the valley. 
The land was cleared, rude farming 
was carried on and log and stone 
houses and barns were built. 

The first event of importance trans- 
piring, in the Canajoharie district, was 
the advent of the Colonial governor of 
the state. Sir George Clarke, who, 
about 1738, built a summer lodge, on 
the first rise of ground from the flats 
almost in the center of the present 
village of Fort Plain. 

At this time the Mohawk country 
was still practically an unknown for- 
est wilderness, with the exception of 
the district immediately along the 
river, which was already cleared in 
spots and which was then being rap- 
idly opened up and settled. 

This Clarke place was a house of 
two stories, with a hall passing 
through the center and large square 
rooms on either side. The second floor 
was reached by a broad stairway, with 
white oak bannisters and easy steps of 
the same material. The house had a 
frontage of nearly forty feet and its 
walls were built of a slaty stone taken 
from the bed of the neighboring Ots- 
QLiago. The steps to the front door 
were of slate also, but a limestone 
step used at one of its doors still 
serves its purpose. The Gov. Clarke 
house was, for its time, a structure of 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



15 



considerable pretens'on. It is said to 
have been erected by Clarke so as to 
remove two sons of "fast proclivities" 
from their New York city associa- 
tions. For a few years the Clarke 
family resided here in a commanding 
position, employing a force of slaves 
about the house and its plantation. At 
the river's bank, the governor had a 
good landing for his bateaux and 
pleasure boats. Clarke brought to his 
forest home several goats, then a nov- 
elty in the region, and, at one time, 
several of them strayed away and 
were lost. They were finally found 
on the high ground several miles 
southwest of Fort Plain, and this spot 
was afterward called Ge'ssenberg — 
goat hill. The Clarke family evidently 
did not stay at their Mohawk valley 
home any great length of time and 
about 1742 they abandoned the place, 
which was probably never anything 
more than a summer hunting and fish- 
ing lodge. The house then acquired 
the reputation of being haunted and 
was allowed to stand empty and de- 
cay. In 1807, Dr. Joshua Webster and 
Jonathan Stickney, who had come into 
the country shortly before from New 
England, built a tannery across the 
creek from the material in this old 
Colonial mansion. 

About 1750 George Crouse settled 
next north to the Clarke property and 
built a log house which was burned by 
Brant in 1780. Isaac Paris later be- 
came possessed of the Gov. Clarke 
place, and he sold it to George Crouse 
jr. The residence, occupied for many 
years by the late A. J. Wagner, was 
built on the cellar of the Clarke man- 
sion by Col. Robert Crouse. 

Sir George Clarke was acting gov- 
ernor of New York state from 1736 to 
1743. He was at that time reckoned 
an adventurer by many and was in 
constant conflict with the Colonial 
state assembly. It was during his 
weak administration (in 1741), and at 
the time he was a resident of the 
Canajoharie district, that the famous 
"negro plot" excited New York city. 
The baronet had an underground in- 
terest in the Corry patent granted in 
1737. This consisted of 25,400 acres 



in the present towns of Root, Glen and 
Charleston in Montgomery county 
and in Schoharie county. It is 
not improbable that Sir George 
built his Fort Plain hunting lodge to 
enable him to secretly look after his 
"property," as it was being surveyed 
and laid out in plots and farms for 
rental at this very time. 

He Could not have an open interest 
in the patent as the English law for- 
bade a Colonial governor being inter- 
ested in grants of land made by the 
government. Governor Clarke return- 
ed to England in 1745 with a big 
fortune "mysteriously gathered," as 
one of his historians puts it. On his 
way over he was captured by a French 
cruiser, but was soon released. He 
died in Cheshire, England, in 1763, 
aged 84 years. His Montgomery and 
Schoharie property was left to his two 
sons, George and Edward, for whom 
it is said the Fort Plain house was 
built and who had remained in New 
York after their father left the coun- 
try. George died childless in Eng- 
land and Edward died in 1744, leaving 
one son, George Hyde Clarke, who 
succeeded to the property. Corry sold 
his share of the patent, but it was 
confiscated by the state during the 
Revolution, on account of the Toryism 
of the owners. George Hyde Clarke 
remained in New York during the 
war, and, siding with the patriots, was 
confirmed in the large landed posses- 
sions of his father. The property de- 
scended from father to son, each suc- 
ceeding owner bearing the name of 
George Clarke. The dissensions, in- 
cendiarism and legal warfare, incident 
to the breaking up of this great estate, 
occurred within comparatively recent 
years. 



In 1750 the Reformed church of 
Canajoharie was established at Sand 
Hill (later Fort Plain) and about the 
same time William Seeber opened his 
store and became Minden's first trader. 
The settlement and development of 
the Minden section of the Canajoharie 
district, into a fertile agricultural sec- 
tion, was going forward rapidly at this 



16 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



period and that mentioned in the fore- 
going part of this chapter. 

During the French and Indian war 
the districts of Palatine and Can- 
ajoharie had suffered but little, 
although here and there scalping 
parties of Indians had cut down 
unfortunate settlers. One of these 
incidents, of particularly tragic 
character, occurred near Fort Plain in 
the westerly part of the town of Min- 
den. About 1755, the year of the be- 
ginning of hostilities, John Markell, 
who married Anna Timmerman, 
daughter of a pioneer settler of St. 
Johnsville, settled in the western part 
of the town. Markell and his wife 
left home one day, she carrying an in- 
fant in her arms. They had not 
gone far when they saw a party of a 
dozen hostile Indian warriors ap- 
proaching in the very path they were 
traveling and only a few rods dis- 
tant. Markell, knowing escape was 
impossible, exclaimed: "Anna, unser 
zeit ist aus!" (Anna, our time is up.) 
The next instant he fell, a bullet pass- 
ing through his body into that of his 
wife. They both fell to the ground, 
the child dropping from the woman's 
arms, and she lay upon her face, 
feigning death. Markell was at once 
tomahawked and scalped. One Indian 
said about the woman, "Better knock 
her on the head." Another replied, 
"No, squaw's dead now!" and reach- 
ing down he drew his knife around her 
crown, placed his knees against her 
shoulders, seized her scalp with his 
teeth and, in an instant, it was torn 
from her head. One of the party 
snatched the crying infant from the 
ground by one of its legs and dashed 
its brains out against a tree. The 
savages did not stop to strip the vic- 
tims and Mrs. Markell was left on the 
ground supposedly dead. She revived 
and managed to get to a neighbor's 
house, where she was cared for and 
recovered. She later married Chris- 
tian Getman of Ephratah, where she 
died in 1821 at the age of 85 years, 
making her about 21 at the time of her 
frightful experience. Such were the 
perils that, at times, surrounded the 
settlers of the New York border, and 



which, twenty years later, threatened 
the people even under the walls of 
Fort Plain. 



CHAPTER V. 

1772 — Tryon County and the Canajo- 
harie and Palatine Districts. 

German or Dutch settlers had come 
into the present town of Minden about 
the year 1720 and shortly after 
that date the influx of settlers, prin- 
cipally Palatinate Germans, was prob- 
ably quite rapid. The Indian settle- 
ments in 1776 were mainly confined to 
the lower Mohawk castle at Fort Hun- 
ter and to the upper one at what is 
now Indian Castle in the western end 
of the then Canajoharie district. 

Much of the confusion, attending the 
names of localities in reading local 
history, can be avoided by a knowl- 
edge of the boundaries of the five dis- 
tricts of Tryon county, which was 
formed in 1772, from the county of 
Albany. Most of its inhabitants then 
were settled along the Mohawk river 
and in the Schoharie valley but these 
five districts had a tremendous extent. 

The eastern border of Tryon county, 
named after the governor of that day, 
ran from the Pennsylvania border due 
north from the Delaware river through 
what is now Schoharie county and 
along the eastern limits of the present 
counties of Montgomery,. Fulton and 
Hamilton to the Canadian border and 
embraced the entire state west of this 
line. Instead of townships it was di- 
vided into five large districts. The 
most eastern of these was called 
Mohawk and consisted of a strip of 
the state between the east line of the 
county already mentioned and a paral- 
lel line crossing the Mohawk river at 
the "Noses." The Palatine district ex- 
tended indefinitely northward from 
the river between the "Noses" on the 
east and on the west a north ^nd 
south line crossing the river at Little 
Falls. With the same breadth on the 
opposite side of the river the Cana- 
joharie district extended south to the 
Pennsylvania line. North' of the Mo- 
hawk and west of the Palatine dis- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



17 



trict as far as settlements extended 
was the Kingsland district, while south 
of the river extending westward, from 
Little Falls to Fort Stanwix and south- 
erly to the Pennsylvania line, was the 
German Flats district. These divis- 
ions were made March 24, 1772, and 
were suggested by Sir William John- 
son. The name of the Palatine dis- 
trict was at first Stone Arabia, but 
was changed to Palatine a year after 
this division. All these names except 
Kingsland, are retained in townships 
in the counties of Herkimer and Mont- 
gomery, comprising minute areas com- 
pared with their original size. 

The district of Palatine took its 
name from the German settlers from 
the Palatinate while that of Canajo- 
harie was derived from the name of 
the famous creek. This stream's name 
comes from the huge pothole located 
almost at the beginning of the pic- 
turesque gorge leading to the falls. 
The title, Canajoharie, according to 
Brant, means, in Mohawk dialect, "the 
pot which washes itself." From the 
foregoing it will be seen that the af- 
fairs of Fort Plain are more imme- 
diately concerned with the districts of 
Canajoharie and Palatine, of the 
county of Tryon. Also that the Revo- 
lutionary name Canajoharie, applies 
to a large district, extending over 20 
miles along the river, and not to the 
present comparatively small township 
of that name. A reference to Canajo- 
harie of that time might mean any 
point in the present towns of Root, 
Canajoharie, Minden or Danube, or 
the districts back of these from the 
river. So when Washington speaks of 
going to Canajoharie he means the 
military post in that district located at 
Fort Plain. Fort Canajoharie in 1757 
was located in Danube and the upper 
Mohawk village near the same place 
was called the Canajoharie Castle. 
Herkimer's residence was in the Cana- 
joharie district near its western end 
and he represented that district in 
the Tryon county committee of safety 
and was also the colonel of the dis- 
trict's militia as well as brigadier gen- 
eral of that of the entire county. A 
realization of the extent and boun- 



daries of the district of Canajoharie of 
the Revolution will aid in acquiring 
accurate knowledge of the history of 
that time. 

The first January Tuesday the voters 
in each district were to elect a super- 
visor, two assessors and one collector 
of taxes. Four judges, six assistant 
judges, a number of justices of the 
peace, a clerk and a coroner were ap- 
pointed by Governor Tryon, all but the 
clerk being Sir William Johnson's 
nominees. The first court of general 
quarter sessions was held at Johns- 
town, the county seat, on September 8, 
1772. The bench consisted of Guy 
Johnson, John Butler and Peter 
Conyne, judges; John Johnson, Daniel 
Claus, John Wells and Jelles Fonda, 
assistant judges; John Collins, Joseph 
Chew, Adam Loucks, John Frey, Peter 

Ten Broeck and Young, justices. 

It will be seen that Sir William John- 
son was practically dictator of the new 
county as the majority of the above 
officers were his Tory henchmen. Sir 
William Johnson was also major gen- 
eral commanding all the militia north 
of the highlands of the Hudson. He 
took great pride in his militia and 
their soldierly appearance. Governor 
Tryon in his tour of the Mohawk val- 
ley in 1772 reviewed three regiments 
of Tryon county militia at Johnstown, 
Burnetsfield and German Flats, re- 
spectively, numbering in all 1400 men. 
This military training of the Mohawk 
valley men was undoubtedly of great 
value to them in the following conflict. 

It was almost entirely the influence 
of Sir William Johnson which made 
Tryon county a region unfavorable to 
the cause of independence. He had 
created a county seat at Johnstown 
and a powerful following about him. 
As Indian commissioner and general 
of all the militia he was supreme as a 
director of affairs. Johnson had prac- 
tically absolute power over the Iro- 
quois and an almost equally strong in- 
fluence over a large portion of the 
white population. His domains in the 
Mohawk valley included the 66,000 
acres, mostly in what is now Her- 
kimer county and which in 1760 were 
given him by the Mohawks, in the pos- 



18 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



session of which he was confirmed by 
the crown and which led to its being 
called the Royal Grant. Aside from 
this his landed estate was large and 
his henchmen and numerous tenantry 
added to his political strength, which 
was increased still further by his 
great personal popularity with all 
classes. By the Indians, not only of 
the Six Nations, buc also of the west- 
ern tribes, which had fallen within the 
circle of his influence, the baronet was 
regarded with the greatest veneration 
in spite of his unassuming sociability 
and his familiar manners incident to a 
border life. This tremendous influ- 
ence over these Indian warriors was 
on his death in July, 1774, transferred 
to his son. Sir John Johnson, who suc- 
ceeded to his position as major general 
of the militia, to his title and most of 
his estate, and also to his son-in-law, 
Col. Guy Johnson, who became super- 
intendent of Indian affairs. The John- 
sons had the added support of Molly 
Brant, a Mohawk, who had been Sir 
William Johnson's housekeeper and 
who, with her brother, Joseph Brant, 
had great influence with their tribe. 
Joseph Brant had been in the service 
of the elder Johnson and upon his 
dpath became secretary to Guy John- 
son. Thus a great, though diminished, 
Tory influence still emanated from 
Johnson Hall. Its proprietor was in 
close official and political relations 
with Col. John Butler, a wealthy and 
influential resident of the county, and 
his son Walter, whose names are in- 
famous on account of their brutal and 
bloody deeds during the Revolution. 
The Johnson family, together with 
other gentlemen of Tory inclinations, 
owned large estates in the neighbor- 
hood and so far controlled a belt of 
the Mohawk valley as to largely pre- 
vent the circulation of intelligence un- 
favorable to England. 

Unlike Sir William Johnson, his 
successors at Johnson Hall were very 
unpopular with the farming popula- 
tion, which was composed in the main 
of the Dutch and Palatines. 

The first election in the county oc- 
curred pursuant to writs issued Nov. 
25, 1772. Colonel Guy Johnson and 



Hendrick Frey were chosen to repre- 
sent the county in the state assembly, 
where they took their seats Jan. 11, 
1773. 

The men of the Johnson party and 
others aforementioned will be found 
deeply concerned in later military op- 
erations around Fort Plain. 



William Tryon was a native of Ire- 
land and an officer in the British ser- 
vice. He married Miss Wake, a rela- 
tive of the Earl of Hillsborough, sec- 
retary for the colonies. Thus con- 
nected, he was a favorite of govern- 
ment, and was appointed lieutenant- 
governor of North Carolina in 1765, 
later becoming governor. In 1771 he 
was called to fill the same office in 
New York. The history of his admin- 
istration in North Caroline is a record 
of extortion, folly and crime. During 
his administration in New York the 
Revolution broke out and he was the 
last royal governor of the state, though 
nominally succeeded in office by Gen. 
Robertson, when he returned to Eng- 
land. His property in North Carolina 
and New York was confiscated. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Population of Tryon in 1757 and 1776 
Ft. Johnson — The Highways. 

The white settlers of the five dis- 
tricts of Tryon county were generally 
the Dutch, who had gradually extend- 
ed their settlements westward from 
Schenectady and occupied the eastern 
part of the county, and the Germans 
from the Palatinate on the Rhine, who 
had located farther west. These were 
the general limits of the settlers but 
the two nationalities had considerably 
intermingled and intermarried prior to 
the Revolution, forming an element 
largely known as "Mohawk Dutch." 
In the whole valley at the Revolution- 
ary period the writer ventures the 
opinion that, of this Teutonic popula- 
tion, two-thirds were Palatine Ger- 
mans and one-third were of Holland 
Dutch blood. These people were not 
disposed to submit to new-fiedged 
aristocrats who assumed a high and 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



19 



mighty style in dealing with the Tryon 
yeomanry. This element, while it in- 
cluded many Tories, was the back- 
bone of the Whig party in the valley. 
Before the building of Fort Plain in 
1776 they had largely sided with the 
American cause and had taken decided 
steps for its furtherance. 

There was a considerable number of 
Irish and Scotch in the county, some, 
as at Johnstown, being Tories while 
others, as at the Cherry Valley settle- 
ment, were ardent patriots for the 
most part. On the eve of the Revolu- 
tion and at the time of the inaugura- 
tion of Fort Plain as an American out- 
post, the white population of the entire 
county was estimated at 10,000 and 
the militia available for the patriot 
cause at about 2,500 men. The Indian 
population along the Mohawk may 
have approximated 1,000 or even less. 

At this period the only settlement in 
the valley which could be dignified by 
the name of town was Schenectady, 
where the first river settlement had 
been made by the Dutch in 1663. 
There was a considerable village at 
Johnstown and a Dutch hamlet at 
Caughnawaga. At Cherry Valley 
there was a settlement mostly of 
Scotch, and at Fort Herkimer and the 
Palat'ne village, at West Canada 
creek, hamlets of Palatine Germans. 
At Fort Hunter and at Sand Hill were 
probably the beginnings of settle- 
ments. Johnstown was assuming im- 
portance, as it was made the county 
seat of Tryon when it was set off from 
Albany county in 1772, and it was also 
the seat of the powerful Johnson party. 

Everything tended against concen- 
tration of settlers in towns. Almost 
the entire population, with the excep- 
tion of a few traders and mechanics, 
was engaged in farming and clear- 
ing the land. The Mohawk, in the 
early days being the highway of 
commerce, tended to keep the popu- 
lation near it and the farms as a rule 
extended back from the fiats on to the 
slopes. This brought the dwellings 
along the river into fairly close prox- 
imity and, if we trust a French ac- 
count of 1757, we will find at that early 
day a surprising number of houses 



noted along the Mohawk from East 
Creek to Schenectady, a distance of 
about 50 miles. 

This old record gives a good idea of 
the Canajoharie and Palatine districts 
in the mid-eighteenth century. It 
inentions that the road was "'good 
for all sorts of carriages" from 
Fort Kouari, later Fort Herki- 
mer, about opposite the mouth 
of West Canada creek, in the town of 
German Flats, to Fort Cannatchocari, 
which was at the upper Mohawk cas- 
tle, in the present town of Danube. 
This- was a stockade 15 feet high and 
100 paces square. The account con- 
tinues as follows: "From Fort Can- 
natchocari to Fort Hunter is about 12 
leagues; the road is pretty good, car- 
riages pass over it; it continues along 
the banks of the Mohawk river. About 
a hundred houses, at greater or less 
distance from one another we found 
within this length of road. There are 
some situated also about half a 
league in the interior. The inhabi- 
tants of this section are Germans who 
compose a company of about 100 men. 

"Fort Hunter is situated on the bor- 
ders of the Mohawk river and is of 
the same form as that of Cannatcho- 
cari, with the exception that it is twice 
as large. There is likewise a house at 
each curtain. The cannon at each 
bastion are from 7 to 9 pounders. The 
pickets of this fort are higher than 
those of Cannatchocari. There is a 
church or temple in the middle of the 
fort; in the interior of the fort are 
also some thirty cabins of Mohawk 
Indians, which is the most consider- 
able village. This fort like that of 
Cannatchocari has no ditch; there's 
only a large swing door at the en- 
trance. 

"Leaving Fort Hunter, a creek 
[Schoharie] is passed at the mouth of 
which that fort is located. It can be 
forded and crossed in batteaux in 
summer, and on the ice in winter. 
There are some houses outside under 
the protection of the fort, in which the 
country people seek shelter when they 
fear or learn that an Indian or French 
war party is in the field. 

"From Fort Hunter to Chenectadi 



20 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



or Corlar is seven leagues. The pub- 
lic carriage way continues along the 
right [south] bank of the Mohawk 
river. About 20 to 30 houses are 
found within this distance separated 
the one from the other from about a 
quarter to half a league. The inhab- 
itants of this section are Dutch. They 
form a company, with some other in- 
habitants on the left bank of the Mo- 
hawk river, about 600 [?] men strong." 

This account puts Fort Hunter on 
the wrong side of the Schoharie, an 
error of the French narrator. 

Possibly the "600 men" referred to 
the milit'a of the town of Schenectady 
and its surrounding farming territory. 

The above gives an idea of the pop- 
ulation then on the south side of the 
river. Beginning again at the west at 
East Canada creek, the writer gives a 
similar account of the north side of 
the Mohawk from East Canada creek 
to Schenectady. 

"After fording Canada creek, we 
continue along the left [north] bank of 
the Mohawk river and high road, 
which is passable for carts, for twelve 
leagues, to Col. Johnson's mansion 
[at Fort Johnson]. In the whole of 
the distance the soil is very good. 
About five hundred houses are erected 
at a distance one from the other. The 
greatest number of those on the bank 
of the river are built of stone, and 
those at a greater distance in the in- 
terior are about half a league off; they 
are new settlements, built of wood. 

"There is not a fort in the whole of 
this distance of 12 leagues. There is 
but one farmer's house, built of stone, 
that is somewhat fortified and sur- 
rounded with pickets. It is situate on 
the banks of the river, three leagues 
from where [East] Canada creek 
empties into the Mohawk river. The 
inhabitants of this country are Ger- 
mans. They form four companies of 
100 men each. 

"Col. Johnson's mansion is situated 
on the borders of the left [north] 
bank of the Mohawk. It is three 
stories high, built of stone, with port- 
holes and a parapet and flanked 
with four bastions, on which are some 
small guns. In the same yard, on both 



sides of the mansion, there are two 
small houses. That on the right of the 
entrance is a store and that on the 
left is designed for workmen, negroes 
and other domestics. The yard gate 
is a heavy swing gate, well ironed; it 
is on the Mohawk river side; from this 
gate to the river there is about 200 
paces of level ground. The high road 
passes there. A small rivulet, coming 
from the north, empties into the Mo- 
hawk river, about 200 paces below the 
enclosure of the yard. On this 
stream there is a mill about 50 paces 
distant from the house; below the mill 
is the miller's house where grain and 
flour are stored, and on the other side 
of the creek, 100 paces from the mill, 
is a barn in which cattle and fodder 
are kept. One hundred and fifty paces 
from Col. Johnson's mansion, at the 
north side, on the left bank of the little 
creek, is a little hill on which is a 
small house with portholes, where or- 
dinarily is kept a guard of honour of 
some twenty men which serves also 
as an advanced post. 

"From Col. Johnson's house to 
Chenectadi is counted seven leagues; 
the road is good, all sorts of vehicles 
pass over it. About twenty houses are 
found from point to point on this road 
* * * In the whole country of the 
Mohawk river there are nine com- 
panies of militia under Col. Johnson; 
eight only remain, that of the village 
of Palatines [at Herkimer] being no 
longer in existence, the greater part 
having been defeated by M. de Belle- 
tre's detachment. Col. Johnson assem- 
bles these companies when he has 
news of any expedition which may 
concern the Mohawk river." 

Here we have a good description of 
the location of the settlers in a 
con.siderabi-^ portion of the Mohawk 
valley in 1757. With the exception of 
more houses and buildings and a 
largely increased population, con- 
ditions were probably ."Jimilar in 1776. 
In addition it must be realized that 
from East Creek, on both sides of the 
river westward to German Flats and 
beyond there was a large number of 
dwellings and a considerable settle- 
ment of Palatine Germans, The ac- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



21 



count gives us a fair idea of what had 
been accomplished in the way of 
erecting large farmhouses, their neces- 
sary buildings, mills, and the opening 
up of plantations on a considerable 
sca'e in the instance of Johnson's place 
at Fort Johnson. Similar establish- 
niei'ts were present, on a somewhat 
smaller plan, along the river and some 
of the dwellings were undoubtedly as 
large and in a way as comfortable as 
those of today. As a well known in- 
stance that of Gen. Herkimer can be 
cited, which was built in 1764. From 
this account, the population was prac- 
tically composed of German and Dutch 
farmers. In the Canajoharie district 
there were probably, at this early date, 
more than 75 houses and in the Pala- 
tine district more than 400 dwellings. 
Together the two districts contained 
probably over 500 men liable to militia 
service and possibly a population of 
2,500, if the French account is correct 
in its figures. The number of the 
dwellings and of the population had 
very largely increased by 1776, to what 
extent it is difficult to estimate, but it 
is not improbable that it had almost 
doubled. The highways will be seen to 
be fair in their condition, at least in 
some parts, and much better than 
would be casually supposed, and in 
general civilized society in the valley 
was at no low stage. 



CHAPTER VII. 
1772 — Tryon County People — Farming, 

Religious and Social Life — Sports 

and Pastimes of the Days Before the 

Revolution. 

There is a large element of popula- 
tion in the valley today which is de- 
scended from what we call the "Mo- 
hawk Dutch," for want of a better 
name. It has strong virtues and like 
all other strains of humanity certain 
deficiencies. Both were noted by 
early writers. However it is difficult 
to imagine a population better suited 
to stand the brunt of those early hard- 
ships and struggles. They made ideal 
frontiersmen, as a rule good soldiers 
and founders of American institutions 
and liberty in government, strong in 



their political and religious ideals. If 
they are, at that early date, criticised 
in their farming methods or for the 
number of the "tippling houses" they 
supported, the hardships of turning a 
great forest country into a civilized 
farming section must be borne in 
mind. They produced public leaders 
of integrity with high, unselfish ideals 
and the quality of their minds, as 
shown in their acts and writings, prov- 
ed them men in every sense of the 
word. Necessarily of bodily strength 
and vigor, the average of their mascu- 
linity and equipment for true men's 
work was of a standard to be envied 
by the male population of today. They 
showed some inclination toward learn- 
ing which writers say, at the Revolu- 
tion, had resulted in the establishment 
of schools in many of their valley 
settlements. 

Both Palatines and Dutch had suf- 
fered untold hardships for their re- 
ligion. In defense of their Reformed 
faith in their European homes they 
had been murdered, robbed and per- 
secuted to the utmost limit. The pres- 
ence of the Palatines in their Mohawk 
valley homes was largely due to these 
facts. Under such circumstances they 
took their religion seriously. Mostly 
of the Calvinistic belief they estab- 
lished Reformed churches and some of 
the Lutheran faith in the valley 
shortly after their settlement. At the 
birth of Fort Plain, in the Canajoharie 
and Palatine districts, there were Re- 
formed churches at Fort Plain (1750), 
at St. Johnsville (1756) and at Stone 
Arabia (1711). Lutheran churches 
were at Stone Arabia (established be- 
tween 1711 and 1732) and at Caroga 
Creek, now Palatine Church (in 1770). 
Near the Canajoharie castle (now 
Indian Castle) a church, largely for 
the use of the Indians, had been 
erected under the auspices of Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson. The dominies of that 
day were frequently men of strong 
character and fit leaders of the spirit- 
ual and intellectual life of their par- 
ishioners. The labors of those of the 
Reformed faith have resulted in mak- 
ing the Mohawk valley one of the 
strongest districts of that church. The 



22 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



life of the Reformed church of Sand 
Hill (now of Fort Plain) is closely 
bound up with that of the fort built 
close to it and it was just out of gun- 
shot of the post that it was burned 
during the Tory and Indian raid in 
1780. Preaching in these churches was 
in either the German or Dutch lan- 
guage or in both at intervals. After 
the Revolution English was introduc- 
ed and, in some churches, preaching 
was in all three languages until En- 
glish supplanted the others in the 
early nineteenth century. 

That early farming methods in the 
Mohawk valley were open to crit'cism 
is shown by the following letter to the 
English Society for the Promotion of 
the Arts by Sir William Johnson, dated 
Johnson Hall, Feb. 27, 1765. The letter 
in part follows: 

"The state of Agriculture in this 
country is very low, and in short like- 
ly to remain so to the great Detriment 
of the Province, which might other- 
wise draw many resources from so 
extensive and valuable a Country, but 
the turn of the old settlers here is not 
much calculated for improvement, con- 
tent with the meer necessaries of 
Life, they dont chuse to purchase its 
superfluities at the expence of Labour, 
neither will they hazard the smallest 
matter for the most reasonable pros- 
pect of gain, and this principle will 
probably subsist as long as that of 
their equality, which is at present at 
such a pitch that the conduct of one 
neighbor can but little influence that 
of another. 

"Wheat which in my opinion must 
shortly prove a drug, is in fact what 
they principally concern themselves 
about and they are not easily to be 
convinced that the Culture of other 
articles will tend more to their ad- 
vantage. If a few of the Machines 
made use of for the breaking of hemp 
was distributed a mongst those who 
have Land proper for the purpose it 
might give rise to the culture of it — 
or if one only properly constructed was 
sent as a model, it might Stir up a 
spirit of Industry amongst them, but 
Seed is greatly wanted, & Cannot be 
procured in these parts, and the Ger- 



mains (who are most Industrious peo- 
ple here) are in general in too low 
circumstances to concern themselves 
in anything attended with the smallest 
Expence, their Plantations being as 
yet in their infancy, & with regard to 
the old Settlers amongst the Germans 
who live farther to the Westward, they 
have generally adopted the Senti- 
ments of the rest of the inhabitants. 
The country Likewise labours under the 
disadvantage of narrow, and (in many 
places) bad roads, which would be still 
worse did I not take care that the in- 
habitants laboured to repair them ac- 
cording to law. The ill Condition of 
Public roads is a Great obstruction to 
husbandry; the high wages of labour- 
ing men, and the great number of tep- 
ling houses are likewise articles which 
very much want Regulation. These 
disagreeable circumstances must for 
some time retard the Progress of hus- 
bandry. I could heartily wish I had 
more leisure to attend to these neces- 
sary articles of improvements to pro- 
mote which my Influence and Exam- 
ple should not be wanting. I have 
formerly had pease very well split at 
my mills, and I shall set the same for- 
ward amongst the people as far as I 
can. I have Likewise sent for Collec- 
tions of many Seeds, and useful 
grasses which I shall Encourage them 
to raise, and from the great wants of 
stock, even for home use, & Con- 
sumption, I am doing all I can to turn 
the inhabitants to raising these nec- 
essary articles, for the purchase of 
which, a good deal of Cash has hither 
to been annually carried into the N. 
England Collonies. 

"Before I set the Examples, no far- 
mer on the Mohock River ever raised 
so much as a single Load of Hay, at 
present some raise above one Hun- 
dred, the like was the case in regard 
to sheep, to which they were intire 
strangers until I introduced them, & 
I have the Satisfaction to see them at 
present possess many other articles, 
the result of my former Labors for 
promoting their welfare and interests. 
My own tenants amounting to about 
100 Families are not as yet in circum- 
stances to do much, they were settled 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



23 



at great Expence and hazard during 
the heat of [French] War, and it was 
principally (I mav venture to affirm, 
solely) owing to their residence & 
mine, that the rest of the inhabitanti 
did not all abandon their settlements 
at that Distressful Period; But tho' 
my Tennants are considerablv in my 
Debt, I shall yet give them ah the as- 
sistance I can for encouraging any 
useful Branches of Husbandry, which 
I shall contribute to promote thro'out 
the rest of the Country to the utmost 
of my power, and Communicate to you 
any material article which may occur 
upon that 'Subject.' " 

At the period of this letter and in 
the following decade a few grist and 
saw mills and similar industries were 
springing up in the valley where there 
was convenient water power. This 
letter gives us a vivid portrayal of one 
of New York's most interesting and 
sterling provincial characters, as well 
as the farming conditions in the Tryon 
county of that time and in its Canajo- 
harie and Palatine districts. 

Pioneer life was as hard as human 
life could well be. It required the 
strongest types of manhood, woman- 
hood and even childhood to clear and 
cultivate this great wooded wilderness. 
First went up the log house cabins 
and barns to be followed later by those 
of stone and sawn lumber. After the 
sturdy woodman felled the trees they 
were burned of their limbs and leaves 
and the ground was left strewn with 
their blackened trunks. To pile these 
together, when dry enough, so that 
another firing would consume them 
was the dirty job of "logging up." It 
was largely done by "bees," to which 
the frontiersmen rallied in numbers 
adequate to the heavy work to be 
done. Severe as that was, an after- 
noon at it left the young men with 
vim enough for a wrestling match, af- 
ter they had rested long enough to 
devour the generous supper with 
which the housewife feasted them. 

The grain grown on the fields thus 
laboriously cleared was threshed with 
the flail or by driving horses over it 
and winnowed by dropping it through 
a natural draft of air instead of the 



artificial draft of the fanning mill. 
When ready for market it was mostly 
drawn to Albany, some three days be- 
ing required for the journey. Rude 
lumber wagons or ox carts, or wood 
shod sleighs were the common vehi- 
cles for all occasions. Much of the 
grain also went down the river by bat- 
teaux to Schenectady. 

A variety of work then went on in- 
doors as well as out, which long ago 
ceased generally to be done in private 
houses. Every good mother taught 
her daughters a broad range of domes- 
tic duties, from washing dishes and 
log cabin floors to weaving and mak- 
ing up flne linen. The home was the 
factory as well and in it took place 
the making from flax and wool of the 
fabrics which the household needed. 
The houses resounded with the hum of 
the spinning wheel and loom and other 
machinery which the housewives used 
to make the family garments. The 
entire family were proud to appear in 
this goodly homespun even at church. 
Itinerant shoemakers made tours of 
the farmhovises, working at each place 
as long as the family footgear demand- 
ed, this being known as "whipping the 
cat." Common brogans were worn for 
the most part by the settlers. Many 
of the vegetables cultivated by their 
Mohawk Indian predecessors were 
adopted by their German and Dutch 
successors. Without tea or coffee, 
they made a drink of dried peas and 
sweetened it with maple sugar, the 
procuring of which they learned from 
the red man. 

In regard to Christmas time in the 
valley the missionary Kirkland wrote 
as follows in his diary in 1789: 

"The manner in wch. ye ppl. in yse 
parts keep Xmas day in commemor'g 
of the Birth of ye Saviour, as ya pre- 
tend is very affect'g and strik'g. They 
generally assemble for read'g pray- 
ers, or Divine service — but after, they 
eat drink and make merry. They al- 
low of no work or servile labour on ye 
day and ye following — their servants 
are free — but drinking, swearing, fight- 
ing and frolic'g are not only allowed, 
but seem to be essential to ye joy of 
ye day." 



24 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



The most common beverages drunk 
by the men of Revolutionary times 
were "flip" and "kill devil." "Flip" 
was made of beer brewed from malt 
and hops, to which was added sugar 
and liquor — the whole heated with a 
hot iron. "Kill devil" was made like 
flip, except that cider was substituted 
for beer. The price of each was one 
York shilling for a quart mug. Half 
a mug usually served two persons. 

Freemasonry had a foothold in the 
valley prior to the Revolution and Sir 
William Johnson and Col. Nicholas 
Herkimer were both members of the 
Johnstown lodge. Also as showing the 
wilderness state of the country, it is 
said that wolves were so common in 
Dutchtown in the town of Minden that 
sheep had to be folded nights as late 
as 1773. All the wild animals of the 
present Adirondack wilderness were 
numerous about the Mohawk settle- 
ments in their earliest daj's. 

Schools were located in many of 
the Tryon county settlements at the 
beginning of the Revolution. The first 
pedagogue in Dutchtown was John 
Pickard. As showing the early set- 
tlers' superstitions regarding sanita- 
tion and medical practise it may here 
be related that after Fort Willett was 
built he kept school in a hut within 
the palisade. Toward the close of the 
war he sickened and died of some dis- 
ease prevalent in the fort at that time. 
A lad named Owen, living in the Henry 
Sanders family, caught a live ,skunk, 
which was set at liberty in the fort 
and "the disease was stayed." After 
the war, a Hessian named Glazier, 
who came into the state under Bur- 
goyne, kept the Dutchtown school in- 
structing in both German and English. 
Such instruction was probably mostly 
confined to the three Rs. School pun- 
ishments were extremely severe and 
whipping a scholars' hands with a 
ruler until they bled was no unusual 
means of correction. One Palatine boy 
is said to have been so whipped in 
school on eighteen different occasions. 

That a Tryon county woman could 
handle a gun is shown by an anecdote 
of the wife of the brave Captain Gar- 
diner, of Oriskany fame, who lived 



near Fultonville: "His wife, like many 
of her sex on the frontier, on an emer- 
gency, could use firearms. On some 
occasion, when her husband was 
away from home in the service of his 
country, she saw from her house a 
flock of pigeons alighting upon the 
fence and ground not far off. She re- 
solved to give them a salute and, has- 
tily loaded an old musket, forgetting 
to draw out the ramrod. She left the 
house cautiously, gained a position 
within close gunshot, aimed at the 
pigeons on the fence, and blazed away. 
To her own surprise, and that of sev- 
eral of her family, who, from the win- 
dow saw her fire, seven of the birds 
sitting upon a rail, were spitted on the 
ramrod in which condition they were 
taken to the house." 

As befitted frontiersmen, their sports 
were rough and violent. They includ- 
ed rifle contests, wrestling, foot racing 
and horse racing. Horse races, on 
tracks and on the river ice, were great- 
ly in vogue in the latter half of the 
eighteenth century, excepting the war 
period. The Low Dutch of the east- 
ern end of the valley were famed for 
horse racing and even for running 
their horses from the foot of every 
hill two-thirds of the way up. Often 
between Schenectady and Albany were 
several farm wagons or sleighs trying 
titles for leadership at the hazard of a 
serious collision. Of this class of citi- 
zens at Schenectady was the well-to- 
do burgher Charick Van de Bogert, an 
old gentleman of worthy but eccentric 
character. He had a fine sleigh on 
the back of which was painted in 
Dutch the words, "Not to lend today 
but tomorrow." He had a span of 
horses named Cowper and Crown, 
which he raced successfully and which 
responded intelligently to his whip sig- 
nals for the start and finish of a brush 
on the road. In his last illness, his 
affection for his team, induced the 
family to have the horses brought to 
his window where he patted them and 
bade them good-bye. He then turned 
to a close friend who was with him 
and asked him to drive the bier to the 
burial plot behind his beloved team, 
instead of having male bearers for 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



25 



the distance as was the valley custom. 
Van de Bogert requested his friend to 
touch the horses with his gad after a 
certain manner at a set point in 
the road and to again touch them in a 
different fashion at a farther point. 
Shortly after this the old gentleman 
expired and his funeral arrangements 
were ordered according to his wish. 
The friend who drove the hearse obey- 
ed the deceased's wishes as to the 
whip signals. The well-trained team 
responded and the worthy Dutchman 
made his final earthly ride behind his 
weil-loved span at the racing clip in 
which he delighted. 

There were favorite race-courses in 
the valley, near Rotterdam, at Fort 
Hunter, at Conyne's tavern on the 
north river side a few miles further up. 
At Sand Flats, at Caughnawaga or 
Fonda was one of the most frequent- 
ed. In the Canajoharie-Palatine dis- 
tricts there were race courses at Seeb- 
ers Lane, on the flats at Canajoharie 
and at George Wagner's flats in Pala- 
tine. Every fall at Herkimer, horse 
racing was held on the flats at that 
place and it is not improbable that an- 
nual meetings such as these were the 
nuclei of the later county fairs. Such 
events were also common in the Scho- 
harie valley. There was much drink- 
ing and gambling at all these races 
and the crowds assembled like those 
seen at county fairs. 

There is every evidence that the 
men of those days had mighty athletes 
among them who were developed by 
the hard life of the day, instead of by 
modern training methods. Besides the 
foregoing sports and the usual crude 
field sports such as jumping, hurling 
the stone, etc., fighting bouts for 
purses were not uncommon. 

A few years before the death of Sir 
William Johnson, he had in his em- 
ploy a fellow countryman named Mc- 
Carthy, who was reputed the best 
pugilist in the Mohawk valley. The 
baronet offered to pit him against 
anyone. Major Jelles Fonda, tired of 
hearing this challenge, unearthed a 
mighty Dutchman named John Van 
Loan, in the Schoharie valley and 
made a journey of some fifty miles to 



secure him. Van Loan agreed to en- 
ter the ring for a ten-pound note. A 
big crowd assembled at Caughnawaga 
to see the contest. There was much 
betting, particularly on McCarthy. 
Van Loan appeared in a shirt and 
tight-fitting breeches of dressed deer- 
skin. McCarthy tried hard but the 
Schoharie fighter was too strong and 
agile and eventually soundly whipped 
Sir William's pet, who had to be car- 
ried from the ring. This was probably 
one of many pugilistic and wrestling 
contests witnessed by crowds of set- 
tlers. Brutal they were but they were 
the physical expression of sport among 
men of iron and should not be judged 
by the tender standards of a delicate 
and soft age. 

It will, of course, be understood that 
fishing, trapping and hunting, formed 
a large part of the vocations of the 
earliest settlers, who also availed 
themselves largely of the skins of 
game for clothing and other purposes, 
deerskin or buckskin forming a large 
part of this attire, particularly for 
sport or work in the woods. 

Autumn husking bees and country 
dances were recreations of the river 
side folks and it is easy to see that 
here was no Puritan community but 
one which enjoyed the good things of 
life, after periods of strenuous toil. 
Barns and dwellings were raised by 
"bees" in which the neighborhood par- 
ticipated. Sports, dancing and solid 
and liquid refreshments followed in 
profusion. The final feast seemed an 
indispensable part of all social and 
most religious observances. 

As the Dutch were such a consider- 
able portion of the valley population, 
particularly in the eastern end and 
were scattered largely through the re- 
mainder some idea of their charac- 
teristics may be gained from Mrs. 
Grant's word pictures of life, in Al- 
bany in the middle of the eighteenth 
century, included in her "Memoirs of 
an American Lady." These things 
would apply to the Low Dutch of 
the town of Schenectady or, with a 
rural setting, to those in other parts 
of the valley and we must remember 
that the Dutch influence and customs 



26 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



were very strong in every part of the 
state in those days, including Tryon 
county. 

Mrs. Grant says that the houses were 
very neat within and without and were 
of stone or brick. The streets were 
broad and lined with shade trees. Each 
house had its garden and before each 
door a tree was planted and shaded 
the stoops or porches, which were fur- 
nished with spacious seats on which 
domestic groups were seated on sum- 
mer evenings. Each family had a 
cow, fed in a common pasture at the 
end of the town. At evening the herd 
returned altogether of their own ac- 
cord, with their tinkling bells hung at 
their necks, along the wide and grassy 
street, to their wonted sheltering 
trees, to be milked at their master's 
doors. On pleasant evenings the 
stoops were filled with groups of old 
and young of both sexes discussing 
grave questions or gayly chatting and 
singing together. The mischievous 
gossip was unknown for intercourse 
was so free and friendship so real that 
there was no place for such a creature, 
and politicians seldom disturbed these 
social gatherings. A peculiar social 
custom arranged the young people in 
congenial companies, composed of 
equal numbers, of both sexes, quite 
small children being admitted, and 
the association continued until ma- 
turity. The result was a perfect 
knowledge of each other and happy 
and suitable marriages resulted. The 
summer amusements of the young 
were simple, the principal one being 
picnics, often held upon the pretty 
islands near Albany or in "the bush." 
These were days of pure enjoyment for 
everybody was unrestrained by con- 
ventionalities. In winter the frozen 
Hudson would be alive with merry 
skaters of both sexes. Small evening 
parties were frequent and were gen- 
erally the sequel of quilting parties. 
The young men sometimes enjoyed 
convivial parties at taverns but ha- 
bitual drunkenness was extremely 
rare. 

Slavery was common in the valley 
and some plantations had a score or 
more slaves. The. price of labor was 



so enormously high, because of the 
sparse population, that the importa- 
tion of negroes had become a prime in- 
dustrial necessity and they were then 
very numerous in the province of New 
York. Mrs. Grant speaks of slavery 
in Albany and her remarks are perti- 
nent to the valley as well. She says: 

"African slavery was seen at Albany 
and vicinity in its mildest form. It 
was softened by gentleness and mutual 
attachments. It appeared patriarchial 
and a real blessing to the negroes. 
Master and slave stood in the relation 
of friends. Immoralities were rare. 
There was no hatred engendered by 
neglect, cruelty and injustice; and 
such excitements as the 'Negro Plots' 
of 1712 and 1741 in New York city were 
impossible. Industry and frugality 
ranked among the cardinal virtues of 
the people." 

These seem to have been negro 
slave conditions in this section up to 
1827, when slavery was finally abolish- 
ed in New York. The slaves were 
allowed much liberty and had their full 
share of celebrations and jollifications 
such as Christmas and New Year. 
Many were freed by their owners, for 
good service or other reasons and in 
all the local records we find few inci- 
dents of cruelty or abuse on the 
part of the white man to the black. 
There is an instance of a slave woman 
born in the Herkimer family at Dan- 
ube who lived for years in Little Falls 
and was looked after and finally buried 
by the Herkimer grandchildren of her 
early master. 

A number of conditions tended to 
mold public thought into a Revolu- 
tionary form. There were discourage- 
ments to settlement and some of the 
English governors had been avaricious, 
bigoted and tyrannical. The lavish 
grants of much of the best land to their 
favorites and tools were special hind- 
rances to the rapid increase of popu- 
lation. The holders of large estates 
rated their lands so high that poorer 
persons could neither buy or lease 
farms. 

It is not the province of this ac- 
count to treat in detail of the grants 
of land in Tryon county. Suffice to 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



27 



say that these transactions frequently 
seemed to be honey-combed with ev- 
ery form of corruption known to Co- 
lonial adventurers and crooks. Such 
methods were well exemplified in the 
Corry patent which, tradition has it, 
was secured in part by Gov. Clarke 
for himself, although it was against 
the Colonial law for a governor to ac- 
quire land by free grant. This is the 
well known property which was the 
iscene of so much miserable trouble, 
arson and crime during the years of its 
last proprietorship under a George 
Clarke. These grants angered both 
Indians and settlers and tended, among 
many other things, to make the true 
American of the day distrust and hate 
his state government and mother 
country. For the most part the Dutch 
and Palatine grantees seem to have 
settled upon and improved for their 
own use the lands given them. 

Benson J. Lossing's "Empire State," 
says: 

"In the state of New York the Dutch 
language was so generally used in 
some of the counties that sheriffs 
found it difficult to procure persons 
sufficiently acquainted with the En- 
glish tongue to serve as jurors in the 
courts. Among the wealthiest people 
considerable luxury in table, dress and 
furniture was exhibited, yet there was 
an aspect of homely comfort through 
society. Both sexes, of all except the 
highest classes, were neglectful of in- 
tellectual cultivation. The schools 
were of a low order. 'The instructors 
want instruction,' wrote a contempor- 
ary. The English language where it 
was spoken was much corrupted. The 
placid good humor of the Dutch seem- 
ed to largely pervade the province, in- 
cluding men and women, and there 
seemed to have prevailed an uncom- 
mon degree of virtue and domestic fe- 
licity. The population is reported as 
industrious, hospitable, as a rule sober, 
and intent upon money-making. 

"The people generally were religious. 
The principal church organizations 
were the Dutch Reformed, the Luth- 
eran, English Episcopal and the Pres- 
byterian. This was due to the racial 
elements of the state's settlers which 



were Dutch, German, English, Scotch, 
Irish and Huguenot French, and these 
elements penetrated to some extent 
into practically all the counties of the 
province, incl'iding Tryon. There was 
much freedom of thought and action 
among the people that fostered a 
spirit of independence. They were 
not bound hand and foot by rigid re- 
ligious and political creeds, as were 
the people of New England, but were 
thoroughly imbued with the toleration 
inherited from the first Dutch settlers, 
and theological disputes were seldom 
indulged in." 

Here and there were men of 
acute intelligence and fine minds who 
possessed initiative and the power of 
expressing themselves simply, clearly 
and forcibly. These were the leaders 
who were to be in the van in the im- 
pending struggle. 

All the foregoing pictures to us the 
Mohawk valley people, their lands, 
customs, manners and play at the 
period just antedating the war for in- 
dependence and the building of Fort 
Plain. This account is considered 
worthy of its length in portraying the 
men and women who were to be ac- 
tors in and around this frontier out- 
post, for after all the human element 
is more important than the dead walls 
of the old fort and both played their 
part on this stage of war and peace. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1774 to 1777 — Growth of the American 
Liberty Movement — Tryon County 
Committee of Safety and Militia. 

At the opening of the Revolution the 
Mohawk valley had enjoyed 20 years 
of peace and consequent development 
and prosperity. Its people had al- 
most forgotten the horrors of the 
French and Indian depredations dur- 
ing the last contest between England 
and France which resulted in the lat- 
ter's loss of Canada. 

In 1774, the strong American senti- 
ment for independence took form in 
Tryon county at a meeting held in the 
Palatine district which warmly ap- 
proved the calling of a Continental 



28 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



congress for mutual consultation of 
the colonies upon their grievances 
against England. A set of resolutions 
was drawn up setting forth the Am- 
erican cause and correspondence was 
opened with the patriots of New York 
city. The Johnson party early in 
1775 published a set of resolutions ap- 
proving English acts and went about 
securing signatures, which excited the 
indignation of the majority of the 
Tryon county population who were 
Whigs. Most of the Tryon county of- 
ficials signed the Johnson petition. 
The Whigs held meetings and the first 
one, of three hundred patriots, assem- 
bled at Caughnawaga to raise a lib- 
erty pole. This was broken up by an 
armed party of Tories headed by Sir 
John Johnson. Young Jacob Sammons 
interrupted a fiery speech of Col. Guy 
Johnson and was severely beaten by 
the Tories. Further patriotic meet- 
ings were held and at the second held 
at the house of Adam Loucks in Pala- 
tine, a committee to correspond with 
those of other districts was formed, 
this being the beginning of the Tryon 
County Committee of Safety. John- 
son now armed further his fortifica- 
tions at the Hall and organized and 
equipped his Tory Scotch highlanders. 
In view of these affairs the Palatine 
committee addressed a letter to the 
Albany committee setting forth the 
situation in the county and asking 
that the shipment of ammunition into 
it from Albany be supervised so that 
the Tories could not further arm 
themselves. Evidences soon appeared 
that Johnson was endeavoring to se- 
cure the support of the Six Nations. 
His personal army now amounted to 
500 men and he had cut off free com- 
munication between Albany and the 
upper valley settlements. The Pala- 
tine committee. May 21, protested 
against Johnson's course and the Ger- 
man Flats and Kingsland districts 
were invited to cooperate with them. 

May 24, 1775, the committees of all 
the districts but Mohawk met at the 
house of William Seeber in Canajo- 
harie (at Fort Plain) and adopted res- 
olutions of united action between the 
districts. Delegates were sent to Al- 



bany and Schenectady to confer with 
those committees. This was the first 
meeting of the Tryon County Com- 
mittee of Safety and was held close to 
the site of the later fortification. May 
25, the Tryon county and Albany 
committees held a council with the 
Mohawks at Guy Park without appar- 
ent results. On May 29, again at the 
house of William Seeber, near Fort 
Plain, a resolution was passed prohib- 
iting all trade with persons who had 
not signed the article of association 
and slaves were not to be allowed off 
their master's premises without a per- 
mit. Any person disobeying these in- 
structions was to be considered an 
enemy of the patriot cause. The first 
full meeting of the county committee 
was held in the western part of the 
Canajoharie district, June 2, 1775, at 
the house of Warner Tygert a neighbor 
and relative of General Herkimer. 
The names of the committee at that 
meeting follow: 

Canajoharie District — Nicholas Her- 
kimer, Ebenezer Cox, William Seeber, 
John Moore, Samuel Campbell, Samuel 
Clyde, Thomas Henry, John Pickard. 

Kingsland and German Flats Dis- 
tricts — Edward Wall, William Petry, 
John Petry, Marcus Petry, Augustinus 
Hess, Frederick Ahrendorf, George 
Wents, Michael E. Ittig, Frederick 
Fox, George Herkimer, Duncan Mc- 
Dougall, Frederick Hilmer, John 
Franck. 

Mohawk District — John Marlett, 
John Bliven, Abraham Van Horn, 
Adam Fonda Frederick Fisher, Samp- 
son Sammons, William Schuyler, Vol- 
kert Veeder, James McMaster, Daniel 
Lane. 

Palatine District — Isaac Paris, John 
Frey, Christopher P. Yates, Andrew 
Fink jr., Andrew Reeber, Peter Wag- 
goner, Daniel McDougall, Jacob Klock, 
George Ecker jr., Harmanus Van 
Slyck, Christopher W. Fox and An- 
thony Van Vechten. 

Of the members from the Canajo- 
harie district, Herkimer and Cox lived 
in the present town of Danube, Seeber 
and Pickard in Minden, Henry in Har- 
persfleld and Campbell and Clyde in 
Cherry Valley. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



29 



Christopher P. Yates was chosen 
chairman of the county committee and 
Edward Wall and Nicholas Herkimer 
were selected to deliver a letter of pro- 
test to Col. Guy Johnson against his 
Tory stand. Col. Johnson returned a 
politic but non-committal letter to 
this deputation. He appointed a coun- 
cil at German Flats but did not hold 
it but went on to Fort Stanwix, tak- 
ing with him his family,- a number of 
dependents and a great body of Mo- 
hawk Indians, who left their valley 
homes never to return except in war 
parties and against their old neighbors. 

On June 11, 1775, the committee 
chose Christopher P. Yates and John 
Marlett as delegates to the provincial 
congress. This meeting was held at 
the house of Gose Van Alstine (now 
known as Fort Rensselaer in the vil- 
lage of Canajoharie). Rev. Mr. Kirk- 
land arranged a council of the One- 
idas and Tuscaroras with the commit- 
tee and Albany delegates at German 
Flats, June 28, 1775, which largely re- 
sulted in the friendly attitude of the 
Oneidas and Tuscaroras during the 
war. 

July 3 the committee granted the 
petition of certain settlers for permis- 
sion to form themselves into militia 
companies. The Tory mayor of Al- 
bany, who was fleeing west, was 
stopped by Capt. George Herkimer and 
the rangers and his batteau was 
searched but nothing contraband was 
found. By this time Guy Johnson and 
his party had pushed on to Ontario, 
far beyond the reach of angry pa- 
triots, and wrote back a hostile letter 
in reply to a pacific one sent him by 
the provincial congress. From Os- 
wego Johnson went to Montreal ac- 
companied by many warriors of the 
Six Nations. The Tryon county 
settlers feared that he would soon col- 
lect an army, and cooperating with 
John Johnson, sweep the valley of the 
patriots. The committee now assumed 
the civic and military functions of the 
county and began to have trouble 
with John Johnson over its assump- 
tion of the sheriff's duties and use 
of the jail and also over the formation 
of patriot companies in the vicinity 



of the hall. Congress ordered Gen. 
Schuyler to capture the military stores 
at Johnson Hall and disarm and dis- 
perse the Johnson Tory party. Jan. 
18, 1776, Schuyler and his force met 
Col. Herkimer and the Tryon county 
militia at Caughnawaga. On the 19th 
at Johnstown, Sir John Johnson de- 
livered up his war supplies and his 300 
Scotch highlanders were disarmed. Col. 
Herkimer remained and brought in 
100 Tories, who were disarmed. John- 
son continuing his work for the Tory 
cause, in May, 1776, Col. Dayton was 
sent to capture him. Johnson escaped 
to Canada with many of his followers, 
striking into the northern wilderness 
as the Continentals were entering 
Johnstown, and leaving in such haste 
that he buried his plate and valuables. 
Lady Johnson was removed to Albany 
where she was held as hostage for her 
husband's actions. Johnson took a 
commission as colonel under the Brit- 
ish and organized two battalions, 
from the Tories who followed him, 
which were called the Royal Greens. 
These Tryon county Tories surpassed 
the Indians in their barbaric acts on 
subsequent raids into the Mohawk 
valley and in their depredations 
around Fort Plain. A large part of the 
Tory population soon left Tryon coun- 
ty for Canada. Sir John's estate and 
that of some sixty other Tories, were 
confiscated by the patriot govern- 
ment. The Whigs were now formed 
into companies by the different dis- 
trict committees. Aug. 22, 1776, the 
following were named, by a majority 
of votes, as field officers for the differ- 
ent districts: 

Canajoharie, 1st Battalion — 1st Col., 
Nicholas Herkimer; Lieut.-Col., Eben- 
ezer Cox; major, Robert Wells; adju- 
tant, Samuel Clyde. 

Palatine, 2nd Battalion — Col., Jacob 
Klock; Lieut.-Col., Peter Waggoner; 
major, Harmanus Van Slyck; adju- 
tant, Anthony Van Vechten. 

Mohawk, 3rd Battalion — Col., Fred- 
erick Fisher; Lieut.-Col., Adam Fonda; 
major, John Bliven; adjutant, Robt. 
Yates. 

Kingsland and German Flats, 4th 
Battalion — Col., Han Yost Herkimer; 



30 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Lieut.-Col., Peter Bellinger; major, 
Han Yost Shoemaker; adjutant, Jno. 
Demooth. 

At the same time Nicholas Herki- 
mer was appointed "Chief Colonel 
Commander of the County of Tryon." 
Following his unsuccessful attempt to 
arrest Johnson, Col. Dayton was com- 
missioned by Gen. Schuyler, in com- 
mand of the northern army at Albany, 
to strengthen the valley defenses. Forts 
Dayton and Plain were erected, all of 
which work was under Col. Dayton's 
supervision. He also repaired and 
strengthened Fort Stanwix (later 
Schuyler) and Fort Herkimer. 

Four weeks after the Tryon county 
militia organization was effected, a 
battalion of "Minute men" (scouts or 
rangers) was formed with George Her- 
kimer, brother of Nicholas, as its 
colonel and Samuel Campbell as its 
lieutenant-colonel. 

In the spring of 1777 Brant, with a 
: large party of Indians, came down 
from Canada to Unadilla. Gen. 
Schuyler ordered Col. Herkimer to 
confer with Brant, as the two latter 
had been on friendly terms prior to 
the Revolution. Herkimer and 450 
Tryon county militia and regular 
troops accordingly proceeded to Una- 
dilla and met Brant, who had 500 well 
armed warriors under him. Two con- 
ferences between the two command- 
ers were ineffectual, a conflict was 
narrowly avoided ' and the American 
militia returned to the Mohawk. 



state of Vermont. The menibers rep- 
resenting Tryon were: William Har- 
per, Isaac Paris, Mr. Vedder, John 
Morse, Benjamin Newkirk. 



In 1777 occurred the establishment 
and organization of an independent 
state government (succeeding the Pro- 
vincial Congress) and the framing of 
a constitution for the government of 
the commonwealth. The new "Con- 
vention of Representatives of the 
State of New York" met in White 
Plains in July and representatives 
were present from the then fourteen 
counties of the state — namely. New 
York, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suf- 
folk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange^ 
Ulster, Albany, Tryon, Charlotte, Cum- 
berland and Gloucester. The last two 
counties formed a part of the present 



Gen. Philip Schuyler, who disarmed 
Johnson and his followers at Johns- 
town in 1776, was connected with 
many of the military movements in 
this locality through being the com- 
mander of the American army of the 
north during the early part of the war 
with headquarters at Albany. He was 
born in Albany, 1733, and came of a 
Dutch family which had been promi- 
nently connected with the affairs of 
the city and the colony from its ear- 
liest days. Schuyler joined the British 
Colonial forces during the French war 
and became a major. Two days after 
the battle of Bunker Hill, congress 
made him a major-general and placed 
him in command of the northern de- 
partment. In the expedition against 
Canada, Schuyler commanded that by 
way of Lake Champlain. He was com- 
pelled, owing to ill health, to relin- 
quish his command to Montgomery 
after taking Isle au Noix, on Sorel river. 
The failure of the Canadian expedi- 
tion excited much hostility to Schuy- 
ler and insinuations were made 
against his loyalty. This became so 
offensive that he sent congress his 
resignation which that body declined 
to accept in the autumn of 1776. In 
April, 1777, Schuyler demanded a court 
of inquiry, which approved his man- 
agement. During this time he had 
continued in command at Albany and 
his influence with the Indians is said 
to have been of great value to the Am- 
erican cause. Gen. Schuyler sent aid, 
in August, 1777, to Fort Schuyler, un- 
der Arnold, in response to the plea of 
Col. Willett. This was opposed by his 
generals in council, but his wise and 
prompt action saved the fort, the val- 
ley and perhaps the nation. Schuyler 
resisted Burgoyne's advance but was 
superseded by Gates at the mouth of 
the Mohawk, where he had taken up 
a fortified position in September, 1777. 
Thus he was robbed of the fruits of 
the victory at Saratoga. 1778-81 he 
was a member of congress and in 1789 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



31 



and 1797 went to the United States 
senate from New York. In the New 
York senate he contributed largely to 
the code of laws adopted by the state 
and was an active promoter of the 
canal system. The Inland Lock Navi- 
gation Co. was incorporated in 1792, 
for the improvement of Mohawk river 
traffic, and Gen. Philip Schuyler was 
elected its president. One of his 
daughters married Alexander Hamil- 
ton. Schuyler died in Albany in 1804, 
aged 70. He is considered one of the 
leading figures of New York's Revo- 
lutionary period. 



contents, half robbers and half insur- 
gents, who harassed the English in 
Ireland at the time of the massacre in 
1640, were the first to whom the epi- 
thet was applied. It was also applied 
to the court party as a term of re- 
proach." 



Lossing gives the following origin of 
the terms. Whig and Tory: "They 
were copied by us from the political 
vocabulary of Great Britain and were 
first used here to distinguish the op- 
posing parties in the Revolution about 
1770. The term originated during the 
reign of Charles II., or about that time. 
Bishop Burnet, in his History gives 
the following explanation: 'The 

southwest counties of Scotland have 
seldom corn [grain] enough to serve 
them round the year; and the north- 
ern parts, producing more than they 
need, those in the west come in the 
summer to buy at Leith the stores that 
come from the north; and from a word 
'whiggam,' used in driving their horses, 
all that drove were called 'whigga- 
mores' and shorter, 'whigs.' Now in 
that year after the news tame down of 
Duke Hamilton's defeat, the ministers 
animated their people to rise and 
march to Edinburg, and then came up 
marching at the head of other parishes, 
with unheard of fury, praying and 
preaching all the way as they came. 
The Marquis of Argyle and his party 
came and headed them, they being 
about six thousand. This was called 
the Whiggamores' inroad, and ever 
after that all that opposed the courts 
came, in contempt, to be called 
Whigg; and from Scotland the word 
was brought into England, where it is 
now one of our unhappy terms of dis- 
tinction. Subsequently, all whose 
party bias was democratic were called 
Whigs. The origin of the word Tory 
is not so well attested. The Irish mal- 



The following is a brief resume of 
events and their dates preceding and 
contributory to the Revolution and 
also of the principal events of the war 
from 1775 to the summer of 1777, when 
hostilities began in the Mohawk val- 
ley. It is prepared with especial ref- 
erence to the history of New York 
state. 

Albany convention (of delegates 
from eight colonies), 1754. New York 
congress of 1765, called to protest 
against the Stamp Act of 1765; for- 
mation of the Sons of Liberty in New 
York city and conflict between them 
and British troops, Jan. 18, 1770, re- 
sulting in bloodshed (Appleton's En- 
cyclopedia says "this irregular fight- 
ing was the real beginning of the 
Revolutionary war."); Boston mas- 
sacre, 1770; Boston tea party, Dec. 16, 
1773; organization of "Mohawks" in 
New York in 1773 and repetition of 
"Boston tea party" in New York har- 
bor, April, 1774; Continental congress 
in Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1773 (in real- 
ity an assemblage of the patriot com- 
mittees from the different colonies), 
sitting also during 1774; battle of Lex- 
ington, April 19, 1775; American cap- 
ture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775; 
second Continental congress, May 10, 
1775; battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 
1775; Washington made commander- 
in-chief of the American army, June 
15, 1775; American defeat under Mont- 
gomery at Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775; dec- 
laration of independence, July 4, 1776; 
evacuation of Boston by British, Mar. 
17, 1776; American defeat on Long 
Island, Aug. 27, 1776; American de- 
feats of Fort Washington, Manhattan, 
and Fort Lee, New Jersey, in fall of 
1776, and retreat across New Jersey; 
American victory at Trenton, Dec. 26, 
1776; American victory of Princeton, 
Jan. 3, 1777; Adoption of state consti- 
tution at Kingston (Esopus) April 21, 



32 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



1777, the legislators having removed 
there from White Plains on account of 
the nearness of the British force, oc- 
cupying New York city; Burgoyne's 
British army assembled at Cumberland 
Point, Lake Champlain, June, 1777, and 
captured Crown Point, June 30, 1777; 
St. Leger's British army assembles at 
Oswego for invasion of Mohawk valley 
and junction with Burgoyne at Albany, 
July, 1777; George Clinton sworn in as 
governor of New York, July 31, 1777. 



CHAPTER IX. 

1776 — The Building of Fort Plain — 
Other Forts Near Here. 

At the close of the French war there 
were, in the valley, army fortifications 
at Fort Stanwix (now Rome, erected 
1758), at Fort Herkimer (1756) and at 
Fort Hunter (1711), besides other 
fortified places such as Fort John- 
son. Early in 1776 Col. Elias Dayton 
was sent to repair Fort Stanwix and 
he probably had supervision over the 
repairs to Fort Herkimer and the erec- 
tion of Fort Plain and Fort Dayton at 
Herkimer, which bears his name. 

The site of Fort Plain, on the rise 
just west of the present cemetery, at 
the extreme western end of the vil- 
lage limits, has already been noted. 
Simms says it was constructed mainly 
by farmers. Its form was an irregular 
quadrangle with earth and log bas- 
tions or block houses and embrasures 
at opposite corners a strong block 
house within in the center and also 
barracks. Cannon in the block-houses 
could command the fort on all sides. 
It enclosed from a third to a half acre 
of ground but when settlers began to 
be Hilled and burned out, the surviv- 
ors came here in such numbers that 
the space was found too small for the 
public needs. Three or four com- 
fortable huts were accordingly made 
along the verge of the hill. The ad- 
jacent spring furnished water and sup- 
plies were probably stored in the cen- 
ter block-house. There were two 
large apple trees within the fort in- 
closure. Its entrance was on the 
south-easterly side toward a road 
leading up to the ravine on that side 



to it. Lossing says it had block- 
houses in each corner; Simms says 
they were in opposite corners of the 
quadrangle. 

The plateau on which it stood is of 
penninsular form and, across the neck 
or isthmus, a breastwork was thrown 
up. The fort extended along the south- 
eastern brow of this hill and the block- 
house was about one hundred yards 
northwest on the edge of the northern 
slope of the hill. There is a tradition 
that nearby settlers aided in the erec- 
tion of this defense. The boss car- 
penter, John Dederick, was allowed to 
name the fort. It is stated that he 
named it Fort Plain on account of its 
plain or fine view of open country and 
because from here operations of an 
enemy could be so plainly detected. It 
is said to have been not so named be- 
cause the fortification was situated on 
a diminutive plain, as it was. 

There is a possibility that it might 
have been named thus because, from 
this height looking over the trees 
which lined the near-by Otsquago, an 
unbroken view of the treeless flats, 
stretching four miles away to Canajo- 
harie, was obtained. This was in 
strong contrast to the densely wooded 
slopes and heights stretching away to 
entire circle of the horizon around the 
fort. The outlook at that day must 
have been superb with the big woods 
cleared in spots only near the river 
and the heights covered by the great 
trees of the virgin forest. The Met- 
ropolitan Museum in New York houses 
a painting by Wyant called "The Mo- 
hawk Valley." It is a considerable 
canvas, showing the river before the 
coming of the white man and is im- 
pressive in its wooded hills and its 
treeless flat lands with the Mohawk 
winding through them. It suggests 
strongly what might have been the 
view at one time from Fort Plain. 
However we will accept the Simms 
statement that the fort received its 
name on account of the fine, open, 
plain or unobstructed view. 

An acquaintance with the other reg- 
ular military posts of the time seems 
to show that of them all it was the 
best located for defense. Fort Plain 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



33 



was the first Revolutionary fortifica- 
tion and the most important within 
the Canajoharie-Palatine districts. 
Fort Canajoharie at Danube was a 
stockade erected during the French 
war to protect the Mohawlvs but did 
not figure in the conflict for independ- 
ence. 

Who commanded first at Fort Plain 
is not known and it probably was not 
regularly garrisoned until 1777. It 
formed a key for communication with 
and protection of the Schoharie, 
Cherry Valley and Unadilla settle- 
ments and was the chief protection of 
the Canajoharie and Palatine districts. 
About 1780-1 it became the head- 
quarters of the officer commanding 
this and the several military posts in 
this vicinity. Col. Marinus Willett was 
its commander for several seasons and 
he is believed to have been here con- 
stantly about 1781-2. He occupied 
the eastern one of the huts situated on 
the side hill below the pickets a rod or 
two from the spring. Col. Clyde was 
in command here in 178-3. The block- 
house, which will be noted later, was 
built to still further strengthen the 
defenses here in the fall of 1780 
and the spring of 1781, and was merely 
a part of the fortifications here and 
not a separate post. Fort Plain must 
have been considered of formidable 
strength for it never was attacked di- 
rectly by the considerable forces of 
the enemy who operated in this sec- 
tion at different times. The land on 
which the post stood was part of the 
Lipe farm. 

Five smaller fortifications were in 
the vicinity of Fort Plain. Commenc- 
ing westerly Fort Windecker, Fort 
Willett, Fort Plank and Fort Clyde 
were only two or three miles apart, 
the first three being nearly on a north 
and south line, curving easterly to em- 
brace the last fort named, and being 
in something like a half circle around 
Fort Plain on its western side. Dur- 
ing the latter part of the war this line 
of forts, with the regular army post 
toward the center, made this section 
one of the best defended on the Tryon 
county frontier, and one historian says 
enabled the surviving to furnish most 



of the bread for the district. Fort 
Paris, at Stone Arabia, was the fifth 
fortification immediately about the 
central defense of Fort Plain. 

Fort Windecker, built in 1777, was 
a palisaded small enclosure surround- 
ing the dwelling of Johannes Win- 
decker. It was nearly eight miles 
west of north, from the latter upon the 
river road. It had the usual signal 
gun and probably contained a small 
block-house. This place, like similar 
posts, had at least one sentinel on duty 
at night, who was posted usually out- 
side the pickets at this place. 

Fort Willett was a palisaded in- 
closure on the highest ground in the 
Dutchtown section and was situated 
over four miles from Fort Plain on 
land now owned by William Zimmer- 
man. This stockade was completed 
in the spring of 1781 and had ample 
room for huts for a,ll the adjacent 
families. It had the block-house cor- 
ners and an alarm gun. As it was iso- 
lated from any dwelling, it had a good- 
sized oven, the ruins of which re- 
mained for many years. The timber 
for its pickets was cut on adjoining 
farms and was drawn together by the 
owners of them. Like other palisades, 
the pickets were the trunks of straight 
trees of different kinds, of about a foot 
thickness through the, butt, and cut 
long enough to be sunk three or four 
feet in the ground and to rise above it 
about a dozen or more. On the com- 
pletion of this defense, Col. Willett 
rode out with a squad of his men 
from Fort Plain to see it. He was 
much pleased with the condition of 
things and said "You have a nice little 
fort here; what do you call it?" "It 
has no name yet; wont you give it 
one?" was the answer. Col. Willett 
replied, "Well, this is one of the nicest 
little forts on the frontier, and you 
may call it after me, if you please." A 
cheer went up at this, so the name of 
Willett became connected with the 
town in which he lived and fought for 
several years. The old south shore 
turnpike running through the Green- 
bush section of Fort Plain village is 
named Willett street after this very 
capable Revolutionary commander. At 



34 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the end of the war each family who 
had contributed picltets for the build- 
ing of Fort Willett drew home their 
share and the fortification was demol- 
ished in the same manner as the many 
others when their use for purposes of 
defense had ceased. 

Port Plank was established in 1776 
and was situated two and a half miles 
west of Fort Plain and one and a quar- 
ter miles in a direct line southerly 
from the Mohawk. Here then lived 
Frederick Plank, a whig, whose house 
was palisaded in a square enclosure 
with block-house corners. From its 
nearness to the settlements at Dutch- 
town and Geissenberg it served as a 
safe retreat for a score or two of fam- 
ilies. Capt. Joseph House, a militia 
officer living with Plank, usually com- 
manded in the absence of field officers. 
More or less troops were kept at this 
station through the war. 

Fort Clyde was established in 1777 
to protect the Freysbush settlers. It 
bore the name of Col. Samuel Clyde of 
Cherry Valley, who doubtless superin- 
tended its construction. This was not 
a palisaded dwelling but a fort by it- 
self, like that at Fort Plain and Fort 
Willett. It was an enclosure large 
enough to hold huts for the accommo- 
dation of refugees and a strong block- 
house in the center. A signal gun was 
mounted as at all such posts. It was 
about three miles south of Fort Plain 
and topped a sightly knoll on what 
was the old Gen. George H. Nellis 
farm. It is believed Col. Clyde exer- 
cised a sort of paternal supervision 
over this fort, where part of a com- 
pany of rangers or drafted militia was 
stationed. 

In the Palatine district similarly 
adjacent to Fort Plain stood Fort 
Paris. It was three or four miles to 
the northeast of Fort Plain and stood 
upon the summit of ground half a 
mile to the north of the Stone Arabia 
churches. It was a palisade enclosing 
strong block-houses and was of a size 
to accommodate a garrison of 200 or 
300 men. The fort was commenced in 
December, 1776, and completed in the 
spring' of 1777. 

This was an important post and was 



usually manned by a company or two 
of rangers. Col. Klock and Lieut.-Col. 
Wagner had much to do with its im- 
mediate command. In the fall and 
winter of 1779 it became the head- 
quarters of Col. Frederick Visscher, 
who commanded this and its adjacent 
military posts, including Fort Plain. 
This headquarters was changed to 
Fort Plain in 1780-1, probably with the 
advent of Col. Willett to command the 
American forces in the valley. Fort 
Paris was named after Col. Isaac Paris. 
The post was ordered built by the 
Tryon County Committee of Safety, 
Dec. 19, 1776, and was largely erected 
by Capt. Christian Getman's company 
of rangers "under the sole direction 
and command of Isaac Paris, Esq.," to 
quote the language of the committee. 
It was located on what is now the 
Shull farm and was built of solid 
hewn timber and was two stories high 
with the upper story projecting over 
the lower on all sides. After it was 
taken down, early in the nineteenth 
century, its timbers were used in 
building structures now in existence in 
that section. 

Besides these more important posts 
around Fort Plain there were numer- 
ous stockaded dwellings called forts 
generally named from the families who 
owned them. A small stockaded stone 
dwelling named Fort Keyser was lo- 
cated about a mile south of Stone 
Arabia. 

In the present village of Canajoharie 
on the east side of the creek stood 
the stockaded stone dwelling of Philip 
Van Alstine. A mile or two south- 
west of this on the Mapletown road 
and a mile from the creek stood Fort 
Ehle. Lieut. Cornelius Van Evera and 
Ensign John Van Evera were on duty 
in and around this fort. 

In the eastern part of the town of 
St. Johnsville stood "Fort House," 
named after its builder, although it 
was the home of Christian Klock. The 
house of Jacob Zimmerman was also 
stockaded. Both of these stockades 
repulsed repeated attacks of the 
enemy. Fort Hill, which was situated 
on an eminence in the western part of 
the town of St. Johnsville, was erected 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



35 



during the French war. It was re- 
paired and used during the Revolution. 
Thus before a blow had been struck, 
the settlers of Tryon county had real- 
ized the gravity of the situation and 
were prepared for defense. 



After his unsuccessful attempt to 
arrest Sir John Johnson in May, in 
the summer of 1776, Col. Dayton was 
sent by Gen. Schuyler to look after 
the defenses in the Mohawk valley. 
He started the reconstruction of Fort 
Stanwix (Schuyler), which work was 
not entirely completed when invested 
by the enemy in the following year. 
Col. Dayton is supposed to have had 
official supervision of the renovation 
of Fort Herkimer and of the construc- 
tion of Fort Dayton, which bears his 
name, at the site of Herkimer. It is 
reasonable to suppose that he super- 
vised the erection of Fort Plain at the 
same time. Elias Dayton was born 
in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1735. 
He joined the Colonial army during 
the French and Indian war. He was 
a member of the corps called "Jersey 
Blues," raised in 1759 by Edward Hart, 
the father of John Hart, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. With that corps Dayton fought 
under Wolfe at Quebec. He was one 
of the Committee of Safety at Eliza- 
bethtown at the beginning of the Rev- 
olution. In February, 1778, congress 
appointed him colonel of a New Jer- 
sey regiment, and in 1782 he was pro- 
moted to the rank of brigadier-gen- 
eral. He was in several of the prin- 
cipal battles of the Revolution and had 
three horses shot under him — one at 
Germantown, one at Springfield and 
one at Crosswick Bridge. He was the 
first president of the Society of the 
Cincinnati of New Jersey, and, during 
the life of Washington, enjoyed the 
warm personal friendship of the na- 
tional leader. He died at Elizabeth- 
town in 1807, aged 72 years. 



"stood on the farm long owned by 
Ralph Manning, about half a mile east 
of north from the present Middle- 
burgh railroad station." It was built 
by soldiers and citizens, the farmers 
drawing the material together and the 
soldiers doing a great part of the 
building. The Upper Fort was situ- 
ated five miles west of south from the 
Middle Fort. It was begun in the fall 
of 1777 and completed the following 
summer. The Lower Fort, situated 
six miles north of the Middle Fort. 
The stone church, still standing one 
mile north of the court house, was 
enclosed within the palisades of this 
fortification. 



Three forts were erected in the 
Schoharie valley in the fall of 1777, the 
central being the first one built. It 
was known during the Revolution as 
the Middle Fort 'and, Simms sayS, 



CHAPTER X. 

1776 — Adjacent Settlers and Buildings 
— Some Thrilling Incidents. 

The following deals with some of the 
buildings and families immediately 
around Fort Plain and in the Canajo- 
harie-Palatine districts during the 
Revolutionary period, 1775-1783. 

Across the river from the fort was 
the dwelling and farm of Peter W. 
Wormuth, whose son Matthew was 
shot down in 1778 while carrying de- 
spatches between Fort Plain and 
Cherry Valley. Here Washington 
stopped and remained over night on 
his visit to Fort Plain in 1783. Di- 
rectly across the river was the Wag- 
ner farm where a ferry ran later and 
probably then. 

Beside the Lipe family an imme- 
diate neighbor of Fort Plain, on the 
Minden side of the river, was William 
H. Seeber, who had a store and dwell- 
ing on the late Adam Lipe place. His 
store was opened about 1750 and he 
traded here during the French war. He 
was a member of the Tryon County 
Committee of Safety of the Canajo- 
harie district and a major of militia 
in the battalion from the same district. 
He was wounded at Oriskany and died 
126 days after at his home. Two of 
his sons were with him in this battle. 
One, Audolph, was killed on the field 
and the other, Capt. Jacob W. Seeber, 
fell with a wounded leg and died short- 
ly after it was amputated at Fort Her- 



36 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



kimer. The land on which Fort Plain 
was built was owned by Johannes 
Lipe, who had a dwelling and barns 
next to it. 

A neighbor of considerable size 
and importance at the time was 
the first Reformed Dutch church of 
Canajoharie, situated at Sand Hill, 
about a third of a mile north of the 
fort, and a little distance above the 
Abeel place on the Dutchtown road. 
This was a wooden building and stood 
on a sightly place on the westerly 
side of the road at what is now the 
old Sand Hill cemetery. At the time 
of its burning by Brant, Dominie Gros 
was its pastor, and from that time to 
the close of the war he preached in a 
barn on the Lipe farm in the ravine 
through which the road ran from the 
river up to Fort Plain. This barn 
was removed to make way for another 
in 1859. Another old dwelling a few 
yards below it gave way in 1875 to a 
brick dwelling. One of the ancient 
wooden structures standing on the 
left side almost at the beginning of 
the Dutchtown road is said to be the 
old parsonage. These buildings, with 
several others were so near the fort 
that they were never molested. One 
of these was the Young house which 
was superseded by the former Wil- 
liams residence on Canal street. Sev- 
eral of these old Sand Hill wooden 
structures have been destroyed by fire 
in comparatively recent years. 

Other adjoining property was that 
of John Abeel, a Dutch trader of 
Albany, who came into this part of 
the Canajoharie district in 1757. He 
was the father of the Seneca chief, 
Cornplanter, as mentioned elsewhere, 
and was engaged in the fur trade 
among the Six Nations when he be- 
came enamored of a Seneca girl. 
Abeel was captured near his home in 
the raid of 1780 by Brant and Corn- 
planter and was released by the lat- 
ter. The half-breed son later visited 
his relatives at Fort Plain. George 
Grouse built a log house to the south 
of the fort and between it and the 
Governor Clarke place. This cabin 
was burned by Brant in 1780. The 



Clarke wilderness home is mentioned 
at length in an early chapter. 

The Clarke property came into the 
possession of Isaac Paris jr., who 
built a large store upon it in 1786 
(now the Bleecker house). Paris built 
this store after the Revolution but he 
must have owned the Clarke property 
as early as 1782 as he sold part of it 
to George Grouse jr. and Col. Willett, 
who boarded with Grouse, advised the 
latter to buy it. Willett did not com- 
mand here after 1782. The land was 
to be paid for in wheat at 18 cents 
per skipple (three pecks). Later Col. 
Robert Grouse built a house on the 
cellar of the Clarke mansion and this 
was later the residence now standing 
of the late A. J. Wagner. The Grouse 
farm, on which so much of Fort Plain 
was built, was probably the original 
Clarke property. 

Among the soldiers and people of 
the country surrounding Fort Plain in 
the districts of Palatine and Canajo- 
harie, who had experiences in the war 
we summarize the following from 
Beer's History: "John Brookman 
was carried captive to Canada by 
the Indians and made to run 
the gauntlet; Castine Bellinger, who 
was taken by the Indians to Canada 
when only three years old, where she 
afterward married and refused to re- 
turn when found by her father, Fred- 
erick Bellinger; Christian, Jacob and 
Peter Bellinger, who were captured by 
the Indians, the last two tomahawked 
and scalped and Christian held for 
three years as a slave; Nicholas eas- 
ier, John easier, a baker for the army 
who is said to have kneaded dough 
with his feet; Jacob Conkling, mate 
of the brig Middleton; John Chisley; 
Geoxge Cjock; Abram Copeman, a 
Revolutionary major; George Dieven- 
dorff, a captain; John Dievendorff, 
who escaped from captivity two years 
after he had been taken by the In- 
dians; Henry Dievendorff, who was 
shot at Oriskany by an Indian who was 
immediately killed by William Cox; 
Jacob Dievendorff, a captain, who 
passed safely through the war; George 
Davis, who was in the battles with 
Burgoyne and at one time with two 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



37 



other patriots, captured three Tories, 
whom Davis took to Albany; John 
Peter Dunckel; John Dlllenbeck, a 
captain; George Dillenbeck, brother 
of the former, who in the war 
lost an eye from an Indian bul- 
let and after drew a pension; Cor- 
nelius Flint; Mrs. Dr. Frame, mur- 
dered by Indians while trying to es- 
cape to Fort Nellis; Peter Flagg, a 
soldier at Fort Plain under Col. Wil- 
lett; Henry J. Failing; John Gremps, 
a fifteen-year-old patriot soldier who 
was killed at Oriskany; Peter Gremps, 
who put out a fire kindled by Indians 
in his house, with a barrel of swill, 
during the Stone Arabia raid; Chris- 
tian Hufnail; Peter H. House; Samuel 
Howe; Rudolph Keller, who was taken 
to Canada by the Indians and died of 
consumption when he returned within 
six months; Peter Lambert, a spy; 
John L,ambert,_who was captured by 
"the Indians when twelve years old and 
on his return two years after was 
known only to his mother by a scar 
on his arm, and could not eat regular 
food but would go into the woods and 
cook for himself, Indian fashion; Adam 
Lipe, wounded during the war; John 
Llpe; George Lambert, a butcher in 
the army; Moses Lowell, soldier; 
Francis Lighthall; Isaac Miller, who 
was taken by the Indians, scalped and 
left for dead but revived, reached 
friends and recovered; John Miller, 
a soldier and one of the pursuers of 
Brant; Jacob Matthews; Solomon, 
John Henry, Jacob and Henry Moyer, 
soldiers, the last wounded in the shoul- 
der; Nicholas Pace; John Roof, a sol- 
dier at Oriskany; John Roof, another 
of the same name, a soldier at the 
Johnstown battle; Henry and Peter 
Sitts, the latter of whom, while riding 
with Wormuth from Cherry Valley to 
Fort Plain, had his horse shot down 
and, falling under it, was captured and 
kept in Canada during the war; Bar- 
bara Schenck, captured by the In- 
dians while pulling flax and taken 
thinly dressed and barefoot to Canada 
with her baby and a girl of eleven, 
were cared for by a Tory who recog- 
nized them, later returned to their 
home, except the daughter, who mar- 



ried and went to New England; 
Henry Sanders, whose head was 
scratched by a bullet at Oriskany; 
Peter and John Snyder; Henry Seeber, 
a paymaster in the army; Henry Tim- 
merman, who was sixteen when he 
was in the block-house at St. Johns- 
ville when it was attacked by Brant; 
Giles Van Vost; Nicholas Van Slyke, 
a boatman on the Mohawk, who boast- 
ed of having killed 47 Indians, but who 
was finally killed by them and his body 
mutilated; Jacob Wagner; Jos. H. 
Wiles; Wilkes, grandfather of Mat- 
thew Wilkes, a scout; M. Wormuth, 
who was shot dead when Sitts was 
taken; Henry Waffle; G. Walrath, who 
was captured by the Indians but killed 
his guard and escaped into a swamp, 
where he covered himself with mud 
and eluded search; Jacob Walrath, 
George Yoneker, Adam, John and 
Nancy Yordon, the latter of whom 
was taken a prisoner to Canada and 
there married; Christian Young and 
Henry Galler, who was killed in the 
war." 

It is impossible to give the names 
of all who participated in the Rev- 
olution. More of these soldiers' names 
will be found in the Canajoharie and 
Palatine names on the Oriskany ros- 
ter. Other Minden families are con- 
sidered at greater length in the chap- 
ter on Brant's Minden raid of 1780. 

In the Palatine district, among other 
neighbors of Fort Plain, was the 
patriot Major John Frey and his 
Tory brother, Hendrick Frey, both 
sons of Heinrich Frey jr., who 
was possibly the first white child born 
in the wilderness west of Schenectady. 
Henrich Frey sr., in 1689, had settled 
on 300 acres of land, at the now town 
of Palatine Bridge, where he built a 
log cabin. This was succeeded in 1739 
by a stone dwelling which is often 
called Fort Frey, and is still stand- 
ing. It had a row of portholes on all 
sides and was stockaded during the 
French war and occupied by several 
companies of soldiers. Col. Hendrick 
Frey, being the oldest son, inherited 
his father's landed estate which had 
grown to be of large size. He was 
educated at the school of Rev. Mr. 



38 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Dunlap in Cherry Valley, and married 
a sister of Gen. Herkimer. He had 
been a colonel of Colonial troops un- 
der the Johnsons and with Guy John- 
son had been the first to represent 
Tryon county in the assembly. After 
some delay Col. Hendrick Frey went 
over to the cause of England. 

Major John Frey was born in 1740 
and later educated also at Cherry 
Valley. He married a niece of Gen. 
Herkimer. At the age of sixteen he 
joined Bradstreet's expedition, to take 
Fort Niagara from the French, with 
the rank of lieutenant. He was a jus- 
tice of Tryon county, a member of the 
Committee of Safety and in 1776 its 
chairman. He was the first sheriff of 
Tryon county elected by the people. 
At Oriskany, Maj. Frey was wounded 
in the arm and taken a prisoner to 
Canada. It is said that he was in 
danger of being killed by his own 
brother, a Tory, after the battle. He 
held important offices and died at the 
age of 93. 

Peter Wagner lived on what is now 
the Smith farm in the town of Pala- 
tine and in sight of the Fort Plain 
location. His stone house was forti- 
fied and called Fort Wagner during 
the war. He was a member of the 
Committee of Safety and lieutenant- 
colonel in the Palatine battalion at 
Oriskany. 

Captains William Fox jr., Christo- 
pher P. Fox and Christopher W. Fox, 
commanded companies the first, sec- 
ond and third companies of the Pala- 
tine battalion. Their home was near 
Palatine Church. They fought at 
Oriskany and Christopher P. Fox was 
killed there. 

Peter Fox of near Palatine Church, 
was at Oriskany where he shot an In- 
dian. He also fought at Klock's Field, 
near his home. 

In the Palatine district, other set- 
tlers and soldiers adjacent to Fort 
Plain were John Cook of Stone 
Arabia, who was wounded in the 
jaw, but escaped, at Oriskany; Jo- 
hannes Schnell of Palatine, who lost 
all his sons at Oriskany; Philip Nellis 
of Palatine, who was wounded in the 
shoulder at Oriskany; Conrad Kilts of 



Palatine, who fought at Oriskany, 
Johnstown and Stone Arabia, and was 
at Col. Brown's side when he fell; 
George Spraker of Sprakers, who with 
his four sons fought in the Revolution, 
and the tavern built on his place was 
famous as the Spraker tavern; John 
Wohlgemuth of Palatine, a soldier sta- 
tioned for a time at Fort Plain; John 
Marcellus of Palatine, a minute man, 
who was stationed for a time at Fort 
Paris; Peter Loucks, first lieutenant 
of the third company of the Palatine 
battalion; Adam Loucks of Stone 
Arabia, at whose house was held 
meetings of the Committee of Safety; 
Isaac Paris, a member of the county 
committee, of Stone Arabia, who 
fought as a colonel under Herkimer 
at Oriskany and who was stripped, 
kicked and clubbed by the Tories and 
finally barbarously murdered by the 
Indians; County Committeemen An- 
drew Reber, who then occupied the 
Nellis property near the Fort Plain 
railroad station; Major John Eisen- 
lord, who was an excellent penman 
and secretary of the county committee, 
and a man of good education and con- 
siderable wealth and who was killed 
at Oriskany. 

Andrew Fink of Palatine was a 
member of the Committee of Safety. 
He joined the Second New York regi- 
ment under Col. Goove Van Schaick, 
in 1775, and was a first lieutenant in 
the company commanded by Capt. 
Christopher P. Yates. He was later 
promoted to a captaincy and in 1781 
became a major and served under Col. 
Willett at Fort Plain and in the sur- 
rounding territory. In the campaign 
of 1778 he was with the army under 
the immediate command of Washing- 
ton and was in the battle of Mon- 
mouth. He fought at Johnstown 
under Willett in 1781. George Ecker 
jr., a member of the Committee of 
Safety, lived about a mile north of 
Palatine Bridge. 

Captain Andrew Dillenbeck of Stone 
Arabia was the hero of a fight at 
Oriskany which resulted in his death. 

Jacob I. Snell of Palatine fought 
under Col. Brown at Stone Arabia. 
After that officer fell, Snell attempted 



i^ 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAINi. 



39 



to escape when he was chased by In- 
dians, wounded in the shoulder, scalp- 
ed and left to die. He revived, reach- 
ed Fort Paris and eventually recov- 
ered. His oldest brother was killed 
in the battle. 

Malachi Bauder was a soldier at 
Fort Paris and there kept his family 
for safety. One August Sunday morn- 
ing he went to his home to examine 
the premises, taking along two of his 
sons, Malachi and Leonard, aged ten 
and twelve years. After going about 
the place for some time Malachi sen- 
ior became drowsy and lay down in his 
orchard under the trees and went to 
sleep, the two boys meantime playing 
about the house. A small party of In- 
dians stole up at the time, and see- 
ing the boys, captured them and took 
them to Canada. After a time they 
were exchanged and shipped for 
home, with other prisoners, by way of 
Lake Champlain. At a landing Mala- 
chi strayed away and the boat left 
him. After a year or more his father 
getting trace of him left for New Eng- 
land, found his son and brought him 
back. 

Dr. George Vache was without 
doubt, the first physician in Palatine. 
During the Revolution he was in the 
army. On one occasion he was pur- 
sued by Indians and, with his horse, 
swam the Mohawk three times in one 
night, each time being warned by a 
little dog which closely followed him. 
Dr. Younglove was a surgeon and was 
with Herkimer's army at Oriskany and 
was captured. His thrilling story is 
related elsewhere. 

In the present Canajoharie town- 
ship, in 1770, were grist mills on the 
Canajoharie creek, owned by Gose 
Van Alstine and Col. Hendrick Frey. 

The present town of St. JohnsviHe 
was settled about 1725. Most of the 
early settlers were Germans. Among 
them were families named Helle- 
brandt, Waters, Getman, Van Riepen, 
Walrath and Klock. The first settle- 
ment in the present village of St. 
JohnsviHe was made in 1776 by Jacob 
Zimmerman, who built the first grist 
mill in the town soon after. As early 
as 1756 a Reformed church was erect- 



ed in the eastern part of the town by 
Christian Klock.- The Rev. Mr. Rosen- 
krantz was the fiirst preacher and 
Rev. John Henry Disland, the second. 
Christopher Nellis kept a tavern in 
1783 and a store in 1801. Capt. Jacob 
Klock, at whose house the Committee 
of Safety met, June 16, 1775, lived 
about a mile below the village of St. 
JohnsviHe. He was a member of the 
Tryon County Committee of Safety, 
and in September, 1775, was appointed 
colonel of the Second (Palatine) Bat- 
talion of the Tryon county committee, 
which position he held till the close 
of the war. Capt. Christian House 
was an earnest patriot of the Revolu- 
tion. He lived at that time near the 
west line of St. JohnsviHe township. 
He converted his house into a fort and 
stockaded it at his own expense. He 
served the American cause faithfully 
during the war and died soon after. 
Capt. House was buried in an old 
burial plot, still in existence near the 
former site of Fort House, where lie 
the ashes of many a gallant soldier of 
the Revolution. Near where the East 
Creek depot now stands, Andrew 
Helmbold was surprised by Indians 
while plowing. He was slain, but suc- 
ceeded in killing two of the savages 
with a paddle which he carried on his 
plow. 

The town of Root was formerly in 
part a portion of the old Canajoharie 
district. Some of its pre-Revolution- 
ary settlers were families by the names 
of Keller, Meyers, Bellinger, Tanner, 
Lewis and Dievendorff. 

The town of Danube, now in Herki- 
mer county, formed the extreme 
western part of the Revolutionary 
Canajoharie district and was probably 
settled at about the same period as 
the rest of the district (some time be- 
tween 1720 and 1730). It is of con- 
siderable interest as it contains the 
residence of Gen. Herkimer and the 
monument to him in the adjoining 
family plot. Danube also was the seat 
of the upper Canajoharie Mohawk 
castle. Here a fort was built by Sir 
William Johnson to protect the 
friendly Mohawks, from French in- 
cursion, in 1755. Here a church was 



40 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



also built by Sir William Johnson, 
under the supervision it is said, of 
Samuel Clyde of Cherry Valley, about 
1760. Joseph Brant, in his younger 
years, was a resident of the Mohawk 
Castle and an intimate acquaintance 
sprang up between him and Herkimer 
when they were young men. Old 
King Hendrick, the celebrated Mo- 
hawk chief, who fell fighting under 
Johnson at Lake George, is said to 
have passed his last years here. Dur- 
ing the Revolution hostile Indians 
tried to steal the bell of the old Castle 
church, but forgot to secure the clap- 
per and its clanging in the night 
aroused the German settlers, who sal- 
lied forth and recaptured it. 

The town of Manheim, of Herkimer 
county, formed the extreme western 
end of the old Palatine district. Ben- 
ton places its settlement at about 1755. 
Among the names of the pre-Revolu- 
tionary settlers are Timmerman, 
Schnell, Reimensnyder, Boyer, Keyser, 
Van Slyke, Newman, Shaver, Klacks, 
Adle, Garter. There were nine men of 
the Schnell or Snell family who went 
into the Oriskany battle under Her- 
kimer. Two returned and seven were 
killed. 



CHAPTER XI. 

1777 — Oriskany — Willett's Trip — Ar- 
nold's March — Enemy Flees. 

In the summer of 1777 the intended 
invasion of the Mohawk valley by St. 
Leger was seasonably announced to 
the Tryon county authorities by 
Thomas Spencer, an Oneida half-breed 
sachem, who had learned of it in 
Canada on a spying expedition. He 
reported that there were 700 Indians 
and 400 British regulars at Oswego, 
who were to be later joined by 600 
Tories, for the invasion of the valley 
to effect a junction with Burgoyne at 
Albany. For a time th's startling 
news seemed to throw the Tryon 
county Whigs into a panic and many 
wavered in their Continental allegi- 
ance. The valley Tories remaining 
took on new heart and activity. The 
militia rangers constantly scouted the 
frontier and the farmers went armed 



at their work. Letters of John Jay 
and General Schuyler at this time 
sternly criticise the Tryon county 
Whigs for their panic-stricken condi- 
tion and lack of self-reliance. Schuy- 
ler wrote that he had sent Col. Van 
Schaick's and Col. Wesson's regiments 
into Tryon county and says further: 
"But if I may be allowed to judge of 
the temper of Gen. Herkimer and the 
committee of Tryon county, from * 
their letters to me, nothing would sat- 
isfy them unless I march the whole 
army into that quarter. With defer- 
ence to the better judgment of the 
Council of Safety, I cannot by any 
means think it prudent to bring on an 
open rupture with the savages at the 
present time. The inhabitants of 
Tryon county are already too much 
inclined to lay down the'r arms and 
take whatever terms the enemy may 
be pleased to afford them. Half the 
militia from this (Tryon) county and 
the neighboring state of Massachu- 
setts we have been under the neces- 
sity of dismissing; but the whole 
should go." 

In the light of the truly heroic part 
the Mohawk valley men played in the 
conflicts which followed, the opinion 
must prevail that Gen. Schuyler did 
not read aright the temper of these 
militia men. A few days prior to the 
date of this letter written from Fort 
Edward, July 18, 1777. the county com- 
mittee had been called upon to rein- 
force Fort Stanwix, or Port Schuyler, 
as later called. Of the 200 militia or- 
dered to muster and garrison this post, 
only a part responded. They had also 
ordered two companies of regular 
troops, stationed at different points in 
the county under their direction, to go 
to Fort Schuyler. These regulars made 
various excuses, among them that 
their duties as scouts unfitted them 
for garrison work, but they reluct- 
antly complied. Realizing that Tryon 
county must depend practically on its 
own men to resist th's invasion. Gen. 
Herkimer, on July 17, 1777, issued a 
proclamation announcing that 2,000 
"Christians and savages" had assem- 
bled at Oswego for a descent upon the 
Mohawk valley, and warning the en- 



THE STOEY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



41 



tire population to be ready at a mo- 
ment's notice to take the field in fight- 
ing order, the men from 16 to 60 for 
active service and the aged and infirm 
to defend the women and children at 
points where they might gather for 
safety. Those who did not voluntarily 
muster for service when called upon 
were to be brought along by force. At 
this time many valley men were fight- 
ing in other American armies. 

The Oneida chief, Thomas Spencer, 
warned the committee, on July 30, 
that the enemy would be upon Fort 
Schuyler in a few days. On Aug. 2, 
Lieut.-Col. Mellon, of Col. Wesson's 
regiment, arrived at the fort with two 
batteaux of provisions and ammuni- 
tion and a reinforcement of 200 men, 
both sorely needed. As the last load 
of supplies was hurried into the stock- 
ade, the vanguard of St. Leger's army 
broke from the surrounding forest. 

St. Leger came down on Fort 
Schuyler from Oswego by way of 
Oneida lake and Wood creek, boating 
his supplies in flat boats through those 
waterways. His progress was con- 
siderably delayed in Wood creek by 
the tactics of the Americans, who had 
felled trees across that stream. This 
delay in the British advance was of 
vital value to Gansevoort's force at 
Fort Schuyler. 

This advance party of the enemy 
was commanded by Lieut. Bird and 
Joseph Brant. Col. Gansevoort com- 
manding the fort had 750 men with 
six weeks provisions and plenty of 
small arm ammunition, but not many 
cartridges for the cannon, there being 
only about nine per day for six weeks. 
The garrison had no flag when the 
enemy appeared, but a curious patch- 
work, conforming to the recent con- 
gressional regulations, soon waved 
over the fort. Shirts were cut up to 
form the white stripes, the red was 
supplied by pieces of scarlet cloth and 
the . ground for the stars was made 
from a blue cloak. This is said to 
have been the earliest use of the stars 
and stripes in regular siege and bat- 
tle. On Aug. 3, St. Leger arrived in 
front of the fort with his entire force 
and demanded its surrender, sending 



in a pompous manifesto at the same 
time, both matters being treated with 
derision by Gansevoort and his men. 
Active hostilities at once began, sev- 
eral soldiers in the fort being killed by 
the enemy's gun fire on the first and 
second days. 

At the news of St. Leger's invest- 
ment of Fort Schuyler, Gen. Herkimer 
summoned the militia to action. Not 
only the militia, but most of the mem- 
bers of the county committee took the 
field. The patriots concentrated at 
Fort Dayton to the number of ovef 800. 
This Tryon militia was composed al- 
most entirely of farmers, some in uni- 
form and others in homespun and 
buckskin. 

Molly Brant, then. at the Canajoharie 
Castle, warned St. Leger of Herkimer's 
intended advance. The non-combat- 
ants, women, children, aged and in- 
firm, were gathered in the valley forts 
during this movement. Forts Dayton, 
Herkimer, Plain, Paris, Johnstown, 
Hunter and the smaller posts held 
their quota of these defenseless 
ones. A few able-bodied men were 
probably assigned to each fort, in ad- 
dition to the boys, old men and infirm, 
who were expected to aid in the de- 
fense. These posts were also the ren- 
dezvous of the militia of the neighbor- 
hood for the march to German Flats. 

At Fort Dayton was a garrison con- 
sisting of part of Col. Wesson's Mas- 
sachusetts regiment, but Herkimer left 
them there and set out on his march, 
starting on August 4. The patriot 
Tryon county regiment followed the 
road on the north side of the river, 
passing through the clearings, which 
became more and more infrequent, and 
plunging into the dense forests. On 
account of the great number of wagons 
which were being convoyed, the little 
army was strung out for a distance of 
two miles or more. Most of these oxcarts 
were loaded with supplies and pro- 
visions for Fort Schuyler. The pro- 
gress of these wagons along the nar- 
row trail was difficult and the advance 
of the American militia was neces- 
sarily slow. The first night's camp 
was made west of Staring creek, 
about twelve miles from Fort Dayton. 



42 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



On the morning of August 5, Her- 
kimer and his men pushed on west- 
ward until they came to the ford op- 
posite old Fort Schuyler, where they 
crossed to the south bank. The Am- 
erican force might have continued on 
the north side, but this would have 
necessitated the transportation of all 
the ox-carts across the river at Fort 
Schuyler, in the face of the enemy, and 
the Tryon county general judged this 
too hazardous a proceeding. This ford 
was at the present site of Utica. Her- 
kimer's camp on that night (August 
5) extended between the Oriskany 
creek and Sauquoit creek, upward of 
two miles through the forest. It was 
guarded on the west by Oriskany 
bluff and on the east by the Mohawk 
river. Three scouts were sent forward to 
inform Col. Gansevoort of the approach 
of Herkimer's force. The discharge of 
three cannon at the fort was to be the 
signal of their arrival there and for 
Herkimer to advance upon the enemy 
while Gansevoort made a sortie 
against their camp. The scouts sent 
to Gansevoort by Herkimer were Hel- 
mer, Demuth and an unknown. 

With the wisdom of an old frontier 
fighter, it was Herkimer's intention to 
stop at this point on the morning of 
August 6 and do some reconnoitering, 
while awaiting the expected signals. 

St. Leger, aware of the patriot ad- 
vance, had sent a detachment of In- 
dians under Brant and Tories under 
Col. Butler and Major Watts to meet 
them. Herkimer's subordinates were 
anxious to advance before the ex- 
pected signal from the fort and on the 
morning of August 6, became practic- 
ally mutinous. His officers attacked 
him violently for the delay and Cols. 
Cox and Paris denounced him as a 
coward and a Tory. Calmly the gen- 
eral told them that he considered him- 
self charged with the care as well as 
the leadership of his men and did not 
wish to place them in a perilous po- 
sition from which it would be im- 
possible to extricate them; he added 
that those who were boasting loudest 



of their courage, would be first to run 
in the face of the enemy, and satisfied 
the clamor of his officious subordinates 
by giving the order "Vorwaert." With 
great shouting the undisciplined mi- 
litia grasped their arms and rushed 
forward. Doubtless Gen. Herkimer 
realized that his officers and men, or a 
considerable part of them, would have 
gone on without him, and hence he 
gave the order to advance. 

The line of march soon led into a 
curving ravine with a marshy bottom, 
traversed by a causeway of logs and 
earth. Along this road the patriots 
were rushing hastily forward when 
the advance guard was shot down and 
the forest rang with Indian yells. The 
enemy cut off the baggage train and 
the rear battalion of Col. Visscher, 
which was pushed back in a disor- 
derly retreat, although Capt. Gardi- 
nier's company and some others of 
Visscher's men succeeded in pushing 
forward and joining the American 
main body. They were pursued and 
badly punished by the Indians. 
The 600 men left in the ravine 
were thrown into confusion and for a 
time seemed likely to be annihilated, 
as the slaughter was terrific. Al- 
though undisciplined and insubordi- 
nate, they were not panicstricken and 
soon were fighting back effectively 
against an enemy of more than double 
their number. 

Early in the action Gen. Herkimer 
was severely wounded by a bullet 
which shattered one of his legs just 
below the knee and killed his horse. 
Directing h's saddle to be placed 
against a tree, and having his wounds 
bound as well as possible, he lit his 
pipe, supported himself by his saddle 
and calmly directed the battle. 

After an hour of fighting with the 
foe closing gradually in upon them, 
Captain Seeber, without orders, threw 
the remnant of his men into a circle, 
the better to repel the attacks of the 
enemy. This example was followed 
by other sections of Herkimer's little 
army, whose defense from then be- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



43 



came so effective that it was thought 
necessary for a part of the Royal 
Greens and Butler's Rangers to make 
a bayonet charge. Thus old valley 
neighbors fought each other in this 
deadly hand-to-hand combat, when a 
heavy thunderstorm broke upon the 
fighters in the little ravine. The 
Tories drew off and there was a lull 
in the conflict. Herkimer's men took 
advantage of this to concentrate upon 
an advantageous piece of ground. 
Another piece of tactics now adopted 
was to place two men behind a single 
tree to fire alternately, thus protect- 
ing each other from the savages, who, 
when a marksman was alone, rushed 
upon him and tomahawked him as 
soon as he had fired and before he 
could reload. Meanwhile the Indians, 
good for nothing at the point of the 
bayonet and being severely punished 
were wavering. 

The signal gun from the fort now 
sounded gratefully upon the ears of 
the grimly-fighting farmers. Col. Wil- 
lett was assaulting St. Leger's camp. 
Here Brant tried an Indian trick of 
sending a company of Johnson's 
Greens disguised with American hats 
toward the patriots. Capt. Jacob 
Gardinier of Visscher's regiment, was 
the first to detect the stratagem. To 
Lieut. Jacob Sammons, who thought 
them friends, said Gardinier: "Not 
so; don't you see them green coats?" 
They were hailed by Captain Gardi- 
nier, just at which moment one of his 
own men, seeing a friend, as he sup- 
posed, approaching, sprang forward 
and offered his hand, which was 
grasped and he was drawn into the 
advancing corps a prisoner. The 
American struggled to free himself 
and Gardinier, jumping into the melee, 
killed the Tory captor with the blow 
of a spontoon. Instantly the captain 
was set upon by several of the enemy, 
one of whom he slew, and wounded 
another. Three of the foe now grap- 
pled with Gardinier and hurled him to 



the ground and held him there while 
one of the "Greens" pinioned his thigh 
to the ground with a bayonet. Another 
attempted to thrust a bayonet into 
his chest, but he caught it and jerked 
its owner down upon his body where 
he held him as a protection, until 
Adam Miller, one of his own men, 
came to his rescue and, with his 
clubbed musket, brained one of the 
assailants who was holding down the 
fighting captain. The other two now 
turned upon Miller, when Gardinier, 
partly rising", snatched up his spear 
and killed one of them, who proved to 
be Captain McDonald of Johnson's 
Greens, who is believed to have been 
the invader of the Schoharie settle- 
ments a short time before. In one of 
these terrible hand-to-hand fights. 
Captain Watts was fearfully wounded 
and taken prisoner, and Captains Hare 
and Wilson of Johnson's Greens were 
killed. 

The enemy being thus unmasked, a 
bloody fight at close quarters ensued. 
Bayonets, clubbed guns, swords, pis- 
tols, tomahawks, war clubs, spears and 
knives were used with murderous ef- 
fect. In this fierce melee the valley 
farmers had the advantage and killed 
and beat back their enemies, until the 
Indians sounded their call of retreat, 
"Oonah, oonah," and slunk back into 
the forest. Thus deserted, the Tories 
fled, leaving the field in the possession 
of the Tryon county militia, whom a 
miracle had saved from extermination. 
During the six hours of conflict nearly 
200 Americans had been killed. The 
wooded glen was littered with hun- 
dreds of wounded, dead and dying of 
both forces. The loss of the enemy 
was about 200, including 100 Indians. 

The enemy precipitately retired 
from the field and left the provincials 
master of it at about 3 o'clock in the 
afternoon. The decimated battalions 
were, by their surviving commanders 
as far as practicable, hastily reorgan- 
ized. The wounded, having been 



44 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



placed upon rude litters, the troops 
took up their mournful retrograde 
march, and encamped that night on 
the site of old Fort Schuyler (now 
Utica), eight miles from the battle- 
field. From this point, Gen. Herki- 
mer and Capt. Jacob Seeber and pos- 
sibly one or two others of the wounded, 
were taken down the river in a boat 
to Fort Herkimer. At this place, 
Capt. Seeber was left with a broken 
leg, which was amputated and he bled 
to death. Gen. Herkimer was taken to 
his home below Little Falls — probably 
in a boat to the head of the rapid — 
and died there ten days later. It is 
stated that Lieut.-Col. Campbell and 
Major Clyde brought off the shattered 
troops. 



Colonel Willett, on the way down 
the valley to obtain relief from Gen. 
Schuyler for the fort bearing his 
name, wrote a letter concerning the 
siege by St. Leger and Willett's sortie. 
It was published in the Connecticut 
Courant, August 27, 1777, and is in 
part as follows: 

"On Saturday evening, Aug. 2d, five 
battoes arrived with stores for the 
garrison. About the same time, we 
discovered a number of fires, a little 
better than a mile from the northwest 
of the fort. The stores were all got 
safe in, and the troops which were a 
guard to the batteaux marched up. 
[This was part of a Massachusetts 
regiment under Lieut. Col. Mellon 
from Fort Dayton.] The Captain of 
the bateaux and a few of his men, de- 
laying their time about the boats, were 
fired on by a party of Indians, which 
killed one man and wounded two, the 
Captain himself was taken prisoner. 

"Next morning the enemy appeared 
in the edge of the woods about a mile 
below the fort, where they took post, 
in order to invest it upon that quarter 
and to cut off the communication with 
the country from whence they sent in 
a flag, who told us of their great 
power, strength and determination, in 
such a manner as gave us reason to 
suppose they were not possessed of 
strength to take the fort. Our answer 
was, our determination to support it. 



"All day on Monday, we were much 
annoyed by a sharp fire of musketry 
from the Indians and German riflemen 
as our men were obliged to be exposed 
on the works, killed one man and 
wounded seven. The day after, the 
firing was not so heavy, and our men 
were under better cover; all the dam- 
age was one man killed by a rifle ball. 
This evening [Tuesday, Aug. 5], in- 
dicated something in contemplation by 
the enemy. The Indians were uncom- 
monly noisy, they made most horrid 
yellings great part of the evening in 
the woods, hardly a mile from the fort. 
A few cannon shot were flred among 
them. 

[The batteaux guard, which brought 
into Fort Schuyler, the five boatloads 
of supplies were part of Col. Wesson's 
Massachusetts regiment from Fort 
Dayton, under command of Lieut. Col. 
Mellon. The German riflemen, referred 
to, composed a company of St. Leger's 
very mixed force of British valley 
Tories, Indians and these Germans.] 

"Wednesday morning there was an 
unusual silence. We discovered some 
of the enemy marching along the edge 
of the woods downwards. About 11 
o'clock three men got into the fort, 
who brought a letter from Gen. Her- 
kimer of the Tryon County militia, 
advising us that he was at Eriska 
[Oriskany], eight miles off, with a 
part of his militia and purposed to 
force his way to the fort for our relief. 
In order to render him what service 
we could, it was agreed that I should 
make a sally from the fort with 250 
men, consisting of one-half Ganse- 
voort's and one-half Massachusetts 
ditto, and one field piece — an iron 
three pounder. 

"The men were instantly paraded 
and I ordered the following disposi- 
tion to be made. [Here follows the ar- 
rangement of his troops and plan of 
march.] Nothing could be more for- 
tunate than this enterprise. We to- 
tally routed two of the enemy's en- 
campments, destroyed all the provi- 
sions that were in them, brought off 
upwards of 50 brass kettles and more 
than 100 blankets, [two articles which 
were much needed.] With a quantity 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



45 



of muskets, tomahawks, spears, am- 
munition, clothing, deersliins, a variety 
of Indian affairs and Ave colors — the 
whole of which, on our return to the 
fort, were displayed on our flag- staff 
under the Continental flag. The In- 
dians took chiefly to the woods, the 
rest of the troops then at the posts, to 
the river. The number of men lost by 
the enemy is uncertain, six lay dead in 
their encampment, two of which were 
Indians; several scattered about in the 
woods; but their greatest loss appear- 
ed to be in crossing the river, and no 
inconsiderable number upon the oppo- 
site shore. I was happy in preventing 
the men from scalping even the In- 
dians, being desirous, if possible, to 
teach Indians humanity; but the men 
were much better employed, and kept 
in excellent order. We were out so 
long that a number of British regulars, 
accompanied by what Indians, etc., 
could be rallied, had marched down to 
a thicket on the other side of the river, 
about 50 yards from the road we were 
to cross on our return. Near this 
place I had ordered the field piece. 
The ambush was not quite formed 
when we discovered them, and gave 
them a well-directed fire. Here, es- 
pecially, Maj. Bedlow with his field 
piece, did considerable execution. 
Here, also, the enemy were annoyed 
by a fire of several cannon from the 
fort, as they marched round to form 
the ambuscade. The enemy's fire was 
very wild, and although we were much 
exposed, did no execution at all. We 
brought in four prisoners, three of 
whom were wounded. * * * From 
these prisoners we received the first 
accounts of Gen. Herkimer's militia 
being ambuscaded on their march, and 
of the severe battle they had with 
them about two hours before, which 
gave us reason to think they had, for 
the present, given up their design of 
marching to the fort. I should not do 
justice to the officers and soldiers who 
were with me on this enterprise, if I 
was not, in most positive terms, to as- 
sure their countrymen that they, in 
general, behaved with the greatest 
gallantry on this occasion; and, next 
to the very kind and signal interposi- 



tion of Divine Providence, which was 
powerfully manifested in their favor, 
it was undoubtedly owing to that noble 
intrepidity which discovered itself in 
this attack, and struck the enemy 
with such a panic as disenabled them 
from taking pains to direct their fire, 
that we had not one man killed or 
wounded. The officers, in general, be- 
haved so well that it is hardly right to 
mention the names of any particular 
ones for their singular valor. But, so 
remarkably intrepid was Capt. Van 
Benscoten [he commanded the ad- 
vance guard of 30 men] and so rapid 
was his attack, that it demands from 
me this testimony of his extraordinary 
spirit." 

Among the effects taken from the 
enemy's camp were several bundles of 
papers and letters, which had been 
taken from Gen. Herkimer's baggage 
wagons a few hours before, not yet 
opened, one of which was for Col. 
Willett. There were also papers of Sir 
John Johnson, St. Leger and other of- 
ficers of the enemy's camp, some of 
which were of service. Willett writes 
further: "That evening (August 8) it 
was agreed by the field officers that I 
should undertake with Lieut. Stock- 
well — who is a good woodsman — to 
endeavor to get down into the coun- 
try and procure such force as would 
extirpate the miscreant band. After a 
severe march, of about 50 miles, 
through the wilderness, we in safety 
arrived at this place" (supposed to 
mean Fort Dayton, but as Fort Plain 
is 50 miles from Fort Schuyler, it may 
be that this letter was written from 
the local fort). This was a heroic and 
hazardous enterprise and resulted in 
bringing up Arnold's force. 

From the daj^ of Oriskany until the 
enemy reached Oswego on their re- 
treat a number of American prisoners 
were barbarously beaten and murder- 
ed by Tories and Indians. Col. Paris 
of Palatine and Robert Grouse of Min- 
den were among these. Some of these 
victims were eaten by the Indians. 

A letter of Col. Glaus shows the de- 
sire of the Tryon 'county Tories to 
murder and pilfer the homes of their 
old neighbors after the battle: "Sir 



46 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLA/iV 



John Johnson proposed (while siege 
of Fort Schuyler was still being prose- 
cuted) to march down the country 
with about 200 men, and I intended 
joining him with a sufficient body of 
Indians, but the Brigadier (St. Leger) 
said he could not spare the men, and 
disapproved of it. The inhabitants in 
general were ready (as we afterward 
learned) to submit and come in. A 
flag was sent to invite the inhabitants 
to submit and be forgiven, and assur- 
ance given to prevent the Indians 
from being outrageous; but the com- 
manding officers of the German Flats 
(Fort Dayton) hearing of it seized the 
flag, consisting of Ensign Butler of the 
Eighth Regiment, ten soldiers and 
three Indians, and took them up as 
spies. A few days after. Gen. Arnold, 
coming with some cannon and a rein- 
forcement, made the inhabitants re- 
turn to their obedience." Simms says 
Claus's opinion that the Tryon county 
settlers were ready to submit was a 
delusion. 

St. Leger now made new demands 
for surrender on Gansevoort, who was 
ignorant of the result of the effort of 
Herkimer's men, but who replied that 
he would defend the fort to the last 
extremity. Siege operations were re- 
newed with increasing vigor but the 
British artillery was too light to be ef- 
fective. It was feared the garrison 
might be starved into a surrender if 
not relieved, and accordingly on the 
night of the 10th of August, Col. Wil- 
lett and Maj. Stockwell set out to pass 
the enemy's lines and rally the sup- 
port of the county militia with whom 
Willett was deservedly popular. 
Reaching Stillwater after a most 
perilous journey, Col. Willett induced 
Gen. Schuyler to send Gen. Arnold 
with a Massachusetts regiment of 800 
men for the relief of Fort Schuyler. 
The force set out the next day, ac- 
companied by Col. Willett, and reached 
Fort Dayton where it waited for the 
militia to assemble, which they did 
in considerable numbers, considering 
their recent losses at Oriskany. 

St. Leger issued manifestos to the 
people of Tryon county signed by Sir 
John Johnson and Cols. Butler and 



Claus, in which he hoped by threats of 
Indian barbarities to induce Col. Gan- 
sevoort to surrender. In trying to 
circulate this document down the val- 
ley, Walter Butler was arrested by 
Wesson near Fort Dayton, tried as a 
spy before Gen. Arnold, and con- 
victed but was saved from death 
by the intercession of American of- 
ficers who knew him. Butler was 
sent to Albany and imprisoned. Gen. 
Arnold issued a stirring proclamation 
calculated to neutralize the effect of 
the Tory manifesto in the valley. 

The address issued by Arnold at 
Fort Dayton, to counteract the Tory 
proclamation, was well calculated to 
awe the timid and give courage to the 
wavering Whigs. The prestige of his 
name gave great weight to it. He 
prefaced it with a flourish of his title 
and position as follows: "By the Hon- 
orable Benedict Arnold, Esq., general 
and commander-in-chief of the army 
of the United States of America on 
the Mohawk River." 

He denounced a certain Barry St. 
Leger "a leader of a banditti of rob- 
bers, murderers and traitors, composed 
of savages of America and more sav- 
age Britons," and denounced him as 
a seducer of the ignorant and unthink- 
ing from the cause of freedom, and as 
threatening ruin and destruction to 
the people. He then offered a free 
pardon to all who had joined him or 
upheld him, "whether savages, Ger- 
mans, Americans or Britons " provided 
they laid down their arms and made 
oath of allegiance to the United States 
within three days. But if they per- 
sisted in their "wicked courses" and 
"were determined to draw on them- 
selves the just vengeance of Heaven 
and their exasperated country, they 
must expect no mercy from either." 

St. Leger ran forward his trenches 
to within 150 yards of the fort, but the 
accurate firing of the garrison pre- 
vented a nearer approach. His weak 
artillery had little effect. The defend- 
ers, utterly ignorant of any relief ap- 
proaching, began to be apprehensive 
and some suggested surrender. Ganse- 
voort stoutly maintained he would de- 
fend the fort to the last extremity and 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



47 



would then try to cut his way out at 
night. This proved unnecessary as, on 
the 22d of August, to the surprise and 
mystification of the fort's defenders, 
the enemy suddenly broke camp and 
vanished. 

This was the result of the cele- 
brated ruse adopted by Arnold who 
had captured an eccentric Tory sup- 
posed to be half-witted, in company 
with Butler. His name was Han Yost 
Schuyler and his sentence of death 
was remitted if he should carry out 
Arnold's instructions. Schuyler's 

brother was retained as hostage for 
his behavior. Bullets were fired 
through Schuyler's coat and he was 
sent on his mission, while arrange- 
ments were made with an Oneida In- 
dian to reach St. Leger at the same 
time. Both arrived at short intervals 
and told an extravagant story of the 
force on the way to raise the siege. 
When questioned closely as to the 
numbers of the provincials marching 
up the valley the tale-bearers merely 
pointed to the leaves on the trees. 
The effect of this story upon the Tory 
force and particularly upon the Indians 
can be imagined after the losses they 
had suffered. The retreat, to Oneida 
lake and Oswego, was begun at 
once and, disgusted by the conduct 
of the campaign, the Indians stripped, 
robbed and even murdered their late 
allies. Schuyler next day deserted 
from the retreating enemy, and re- 
turned to Fort Schuyler where he told 
his story and was received with lively 
demonstrations of joy. Gansevoort 
sent a party after the flying enemy, 
which returned with a number of pris- 
oners, a large quantity of spoil, and 
St. Leger's desk and private papers. 

General Arnold sent out from Fort 
Dayton to Fort Schuyler, after Schuy- 
ler's departure, a force of 900 soldiers. 
At the Oriskany battleground they 
were compelled to make a wide de- 
tour on account of the terrible stench 
from the battlefield. Many gruesome 
sights came to the soldiers' notice, 
mention of which is added later. Bur- 
ials of the bodies had been contem- 
plated but could not be carried out, as 
the officers feared for the health of 



the soldiers. At Fort Schuyler, Ar- 
nold's arrival was greeted with a mili- 
tary salute and great cheering and 
demonstrations on the part of the gar- 
rison. In all probability, had the 
enemy not run, they would have been 
soundly beaten by Arnold's and Ganse- 
voort's men, cut up and disheartened 
as the British force was by their en- 
counter with Herkimer and his Mo- 
hawk valley men at Oriskany. Ar- 
nold's force undoubtedly contained 
several hundred of the Tryon county 
militia who had fought on that fa- 
mous field two weeks before. Gen. 
Arnold and his regiment shortly there- 
after turned back and marched down 
the valley to Cohoes where he joined 
the American army gathered to oppose 
Burgoyne at the mouth of the Mo- 
hawk. His intrepid valor and immense 
aid, in the subsequent battles of Still- 
water, which wiped out the British 
army, are well known. 



Whether the action of Herkimer and 
his men at Oriskany is regarded as an 
actual defeat, a drawn battle or a 
practical victory, nevertheless the suc- 
cessful defense of Fort Schuyler was 
one of the causes which contributed 
to Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga. It 
is to be doubted whether the St. Leger 
force would have been intimidated so 
easily had not they suffered severely 
at the hands of the Tryon county mil- 
itia. In all the word story of armed 
conflict there is no more desperate or 
heroic flght recorded than that in the 
wooded glen of Oriskany. 

In the valley homes was great 
mourning For such a small popu- 
lation, the losses were almost 
overwhelming. In some families the 
male members were almost or even 
entirely wiped out in some instances. 
It was many a long weary year before 
the sorrow and suffering caused by 
the sacrifices at Oriskany had been 
forgotten in the valley of the Mohawk. 

In closing the Oriskany campaign 
the following letter from the chair- 
man of the committee to the Albany 
committee, written three days after 
the battle, will be found of interest: 



48 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



German Flats Committee Chamber. 
August 9, 1777. 

Gentlemen: Just arrived Capt. De- 
muth and John Adam Helmer, the 
bearer hereof, with an account that 
they arrived with some difficulty at 
Fort Schuyler, the 6th of the month, 
being sent there by Gen. Herkimer. 
Before he set out for the field of bat- 
tle, he requested some assistance from 
the fort in order to make an effort to 
facilitate our march on the fort. Two 
hundred and six men were granted. 
They made a sally, encountered the 
enemy, killed many, destroyed the 
tents of the enemy and came off vic- 
torious to the fort. The commander 
(of the fort) desired them to acquaint 
us, and his superiors, that he is want- 
ing assistance, and thinks to stand 
out so long that timely assistance 
could come to his relief. 

Concerning the battle: On our side, 
all accounts agreed, that a number of 
the enemy is killed; the flower of our 
militia either killed or wounded, ex- 
cept 150, who stood the field and forced 
the enemy to retreat; the wounded 
were brought off by those brave men; 
the dead they left on the field for want 
of proper support. We will not take 
upon us to tell of the behavior of the 
rear. So far as we know, they took to 
flight the first firing. Gen. Herkimer 
is wounded; Col. Cox seemingly killed, 
and a great many officers are among 
the slain. We are surrounded by 
Tories, a party of 100 of whom are 
now on their march through the 
woods. We refer you for further in- 
formation to the bearer. Major W^atts 
of the enemy is killed. Joseph Brant, 
William Johnson, several Tories and a 
number of Indians. 

Gentlemen, we pray you will send 
us succor. By the death of most part 
of our committee officers, the field of- 
ficers and General being wounded, ev- 
erything is out of order; the people 
entirely dispirited; our county as Eso- 
pus unrepresented, so that we can not 
hope to stand it any longer without 
your aid; we will not mention the 
shocking aspect our fields do show. 
Faithful to our country, we remain 
Your sorrowful brethren. 

The few members of this committee. 
Peter J. Dygert, Chairman. 
To the Chairman of the Committee of 

All)any. 

Dygert was in error as to the death 
of Brant and also as to the march of 
the 100 Tories. Probably many ru- 
mors were rife in the valley immedi- 
ately after Oriskany. 

William Johnson was a half-breed 
Mohawk and a reputed son of Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson. 



CHAPTER XII. 

1777 — A Contemporary Account of the 
Battle at Oriskany — Lossing on Wil- 
lett's Journey to Schuyler for Aid — 
The Oriskany Roster. 

A contemporary account of the Oris- 
kany battle is appended. This was 
published in the Pennsylvania Even- 
ing Post, Aug. 19 and 21, 1777, and is 
reprinted from that very interesting 
volume, "Diary of the American Revo- 
lution:" 

"Aug. 7: — Yesterday, about nine 
o'clock, an engagement ensued be- 
tween a part of the militia of Tryon 
county, under the command of Gen- 
eral Herkimer, and a party of sav- 
ages, Tories and regulars, a short 
distance from Fort Stanwix [Fort 
Schuyler]. It lasted till three o'clock 
in the afternoon, when the British 
thought proper to retire, leaving Gen- 
eral Herkimer master of the field. Un-. 
luckily, however, the General and 
some valuable officers got wounded or 
killed in the beginning.. But this did 
in nowise intimidate the ardor of the 
men, and the general, although he had 
two wounds, did not leave the field 
till the action was over. He seated 
himself on a log, with his sword 
drawn, animating his men. 

"About one o'clock. Colonel Ganse- 
voort having received information of 
General Herkimer's march, sent out 
Lieutenant-Colonel W^illett, with two 
hundred men, to attack an encamp- 
ment of the British, and thereby facil- 
itate General Herkimer's march. In 
this the colonel succeeded, for after 
an engagement of an hour he had com- 
pletely routed the enemy and taken 
one captain and four privates. The 
baggage taken was very considerable, 
such as money, bear skins, officers' 
baggage and camp equipage; one of 
the soldiers had for his share a scar- 
let coat, trimmed with gold lace to 
the full, and three laced hats. When 
Colonel Willett returned to the fort, 
he discovered two hundred regulars 
In full march to attack him. He im- 
mediately ordered his men to prepare 
for battle, and, having a field piece 
with him, Captain Savage so directed 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



49 



its fire as to play in concert witli one 
out of the fort; these, with a brisk 
fire from his small arms, soon made 
these heroes scamper off with great 
loss. Colonel Willett then marched 
with his booty into the fort, having 
Hot a single man killed or wounded. 

"General St. Leger, who commands 
the enemy's force in that quarter, soon 
after sent in a flag to demand the 
delivery of the fort, offering that the 
garrison should march out with their 
baggage, and not be molested by the 
savages; that, if this was not com- 
plied with, he would not answer for 
the conduct of the Indians, if the gar- 
rison fell into their hands; that Gen- 
eral Burgoyne was in possession of 
Albany. Colonel Gansevoort, after 
animadverting on the barbarity and 
disgraceful conduct of the British 
officers, in suffering women and chil- 
dren to be butchered as they had 
done, informed the flag that he was 
resolved to defend the fort to the last, 
and that he would never give it up so 
long as there was a man left to de- 
fend it." 



Lossing's "Field Book of the Revo- 
lution" says of the heroic expedi- 
tion of Willett and Stockwell to get 
aid for Fort Schuyler: 

"Meanwhile the people in the Mo- 
hawk valley were in the greatest con- 
sternation. St. Leger had arrived from 
Oswego and was besieging Fort 
Schuyler, while the Tories and Indians 
were spreading death and desolation 
on every hand. Colonel Gansevoort, 
with a handful of men, was closely 
shut up in the fort. General Herki- 
mer, with the brave militia of Tryon 
county, had been defeated at Oriskany, 
and the people below hourly expected 
the flood of destroyers to pour down 
upon them. It was a fearful emer- 
gency. Without aid all would be lost. 
Brave hearts were ready for bold 
deeds. * * * * * Colonel Wil- 

lett volunteered to be the messenger, 
and on a very stormy night, when 
shower after shower came down furi- 
ously, he and Lieutenant Stockwell 
left the fort, by the sally port, at ten 
o'clock, each armed with a spear, and 



crept upon their hands and knees 
along a inprass to the river. They 
' crossed it upon a log and were soon 
beyond the line of drowsy sentinels. 
It was very dark, their pathway was 
in a thick and tangled wood, and they 
soon lost their way. The barking of a 
dog apprised them of their proximity 
to an Indian camp, and for hours they 
stood still, fearing to advance or re- 
treat. The clouds broke away toward 
dawn and the morning star in the 
east, like the light of hope, revealed to 
them their desired course. They then 
pushed on in a zig zag way, and, like 
the Indians, sometimes traversed the 
bed of a stream to foil pursuers that 
might be upon their trail. They 
reached German Flatts in safety and, 
mounting fleet horses, hurried down 
the valley to the headquarters of Gen- 
eral Schuyler who had already heard 
of the defeat of Herkimer and was 
devising means for the succor of the 
garrison at Fort Schuyler. 

"The American army of the north, 
then at Stillwater, was in wretched 
condition and in no shape to offer 
battle to the advancing forces under 
Burgoyne. Its commander, Schuyler, 
ordered a retreat to the Mohawk, and 
it was during this movement, while 
the Americans were retiring slowly 
down the Hudson, that Willett and 
Stockwell came, asking aid, to the 
headquarters at Stillwater. 

"Not a moment was to be lost. The 
subjugation of the whole valley would 
inevitably follo\V the surrender of Fort 
Schuyler and, the victors gaining 
strength, would fall like an avalanche 
upon Albany, or, by junction, swell 
the approaching army of Burgoyne. 
The prudent foresight and far-reach- 
ing humanity of General Schuyler at 
once dictated his course. He called a 
council and proposed sending a de- 
tachment immediately to the relief of 
Fort Schuyler. His officers opposed 
him with the plea that his whole 
force was not then sufficient to stay 
the oncoming of Burgoyne. The clearer 
judgment of Schuyler made him per- 
sist in his opinion, and he earnestly 
sought them to agree with him. While 
pacing the floor in anxious solicitude, 



50 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



he overheard the half-whispered re- 
mark, 'He means to weaken the 
army.' Wheeling suddenly toward the 
slanderer and those around him, and 
unconsciously biting into several 
pieces a pipe he was smoking, he in- 
dignantly exclaimed, 'Gentlemen, I 
shall take the responsibility upon my- 
self; where is the brigadier that will 
take command of the relief? I shall 
beat up for volunteers tomorrow.' The 
brave and impulsive Arnold, ever 
ready for deeds of daring, at once 
stepped forward and offered his ser- 
vices. The next morning the drum 
beat and eight hundred stalwart men 
were enrolled for the service before 
meridian. Fort Schuyler was saved 
and the forces of St. Leger were scat- 
tered to the winds." 

Subsequently Schuyler retreated to 
the Mohawk and fortified Van 
Schaick's and Haver's island at the 
mouth of that stream where it empties 
into the Hudson. Schuyler ordered 
the grain in his own fields at Saratoga 
to be burned, in his retreat, to prevent 
the enemy reaping it. The following 
is taken from Lossing: 

"That seemed to tbe the most eligi- 
ble point [the islands at the Mohawk's 
mouth] at which to make a stand in 
defense of Albany against the ap- 
proaches of the enemy from the north 
and from the west. At that time there 
were no bridges across the Hudson 
or the Mohawk, and both streams 
were too deep to be fordable except 
in seasons of extreme drought. There 
was a ferry across the Mohawk, five 
miles above the falls (defended by the 
left wing under Gen. Arnold), and 
another across the Hudson at Half 
Moon Point or Waterford. The 
'sprouts' of the Mohawk, between the 
islands, were usually fordable; and as 
Burgoyne would not, of course, cross 
the Hudson or attempt the ferry upon 
the Mohawk, where a few resolute 
men could successfully oppose him, 
his path was of necessity directly 
across the mouth of the river. Forti- 
fications were accordingly thrown up on 
the islands and upon the mainland, 
faint traces of which are still visible." 

Aug. 6, 1777, occurred the battle of 



Oriskany. On Aug. 22, St. Leger and 
his force fled from before Fort Schuy- 
ler. Aug. 16, the New Hampshire 
militia, under Stark, beat the enemy 
at Bennington. Gen. Schuyler's army 
of the north began to be greatly re- 
inforced about this time when Gen. 
Gates superseded him. On Sep. 19 oc- 
curred the first battle of Stillwater, 
which was a virtual defeat for the 
British. On Oct. 7, 1777, Burgoyne was 
decisively beaten and started to fall 
back. Oct. 17, the British army sur- 
rendered to the American force. Over 
2,000 of the 6,000 captives were Ger- 
man mercenaries. 

Burgoyne's surrender is said to have 
been somewhat hastened by an Am- 
erican cannon ball which crossed his 
l>reakfast table during a council of the 
British officers. 



Benedict Arnold was born in Nor- 
wich, Conn., in 1740, a descendant of 
Benedict Arnold, one of Rhode Island's 
early governors. From 1763 to 1767 
he kept a drug and book store in New 
Haven. At the outbreak of the Revo- 
lution he was in command of a volun- 
teer company of that city and marched 
to Cambridge with it. He was in many 
of the stirring events of the war, up 
to his treason in 1780. Among his 
greatest services were his gallant 
leadership at Saratoga and his clever 
conduct of the relief of Fort Schuy- 
ler. He held commands in the 
British army during the latter part of 
the war and at its end v.'ent to Eng- 
land. From 1786 to 1793 he was in 
business at St. Johns, N. B., where he 
was so dishonest in his dealings that 
he was hung in effigy by a mob. He 
died in London in 1804, aged 63 years. 



Col. Peter Gansevoort, the intrepid 
commander of Fort Schuyler, was a 
Revolutionary patriot and soldier 
of the highest type and he de- 
serves a niche in the hall of fame 
dedicated to the heroes of the Revolu- 
tion. Gansevoort was born in Albany, 
July 17, 1749. He accompanied Mont- 
gomery into Canada in 1775, with the 
rank of major, and the next year he 
was appointed a colonel in the New 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



51 



York line, which commission he held 
when he defended Fort Schuyler 
against St. Leger. For his gallant de- 
fense of that post he received the 
thanks of congress, and in 1781 was 
promoted to the rank of brigadier- 
general by the state of New York. 
After the war he was for many years 
a military agent. He held several of- 
fices of trust and "was always esteem- 
ed for his bravery and judgment as a 
soldier and for his fidelity, Intelligence, 
and probity as a citizen." He died July 
2, 1812, aged 62 years. 



Of the 800 or more who consti- 
tuted the patriot army at Oriskany 
only the following soldiers are record- 
ed. Some of these are known also to 
have come from certain Tryon county 
sections, and wherever this is verified, 
it is given. The word, Mohawk, refers 
to the present town of Montgomery 
county. The letter K appended 
stands for killed; W for wounded; P 
for prisoner. Following is the "Oris- 
kany roster:" 

Abram, Arndt, Minden 

Alter, Jacob, Minden 

Ayer, Frederick, Schuyler 

Bellinger, Col. Peter, German Flats 

Bellinger, Lieut. Col. Frederick, 
German Flats 

Bell, Capt. Geo. Henry, Fall Hill 

Bell, Joseph, Fall Hill 

Bell, Nicholas, Fall Hill 

Bigbread, Capt. John, Palatine 

Bauder, Melchert, Palatine 

Boyer, John, Remesnyderbush 

Bowman, Capt. Jacob, Canajoharie 

Blauvelt, Maj. (supposed mur- 
dered), Mohawk 

Bellinger, Adam 

Bliven, Maj. John, Florida, Mo- 
hawk committee 

Bellinger, John 

Billington, Samuel, Palatine Com- 
mittee of Safety 

Billington, , Palatine 

Bargy, Peter, Frankfort 

Cox, Col. Ebenezer, Danube, Cana- 
joharie committee 

Campbell, Lieut. Col. Samuel, 

Cherry Valley, Canajoharie com- 
mittee 

Clyde, Maj. Samuel, Cherry Valley, 
Canajoharie committee 

Copeman, Capt. Abram, Canajo- 
harie 

Covenhoven (now Conover), 
Isaac, Glen 

Casler, Jacob, Minden 

easier, John, Minden 

Casler, Adam, Minden 



K. 



K. 
K. 

W. 



K. 
P. 



K. 



K. 



K. 



W. 



K. 



W. 

K. 

K. 

K. 
K. 
K. 
K. 



K. 



K. 

K. 



K. 



P. 
W. 



K. 
W. 



W. 
K. 
W. 



W. 
W. 
K. 



Clock, John L, St. Johnsville 
Cook, John, Palatine 
Coppernoll, Richard, Minden 
Cox, William, Minden 
Crouse, Robert, Minden 
Crouse, George, Minden 
Clemens, Jacob, Schuyler 
Conover, Peter 

Cunningham, Andrew, Amsterdam 
Collier, Jacob, Florida 
Campbell, Lieut. Robert, 

Cherry Valley 
Dievendorf, Capt. Henry. Minden 
Dillenbeck, Capt. Andrew, Palatine 
Davis, Capt. John James, Mohawk 
Davis, Martinus, Mohawk 
Dievendorf, John, Minden 
Dunckel, Francis, Freysbush 
Dygert, Peter, Palatine 
Dunckel, Hon. (John) Peter, 

Minden 
Dunckel, Hon. Garret, Minden 
Dunckel, Hon. Nicholas, Minden 
Davis. Benjamin, Mohawk 
Dockstader, John, German Flats 
Davy, Capt. Thomas, Springfield 
Dygert, John, Palatine Committee 

of Safety 
Dygert, Capt. William, German 

Flats 
Demuth, Capt. Marx, Deerfield 
DeGraff, Nicholas, Amsterdam 
Degraff, Capt. Immanuel, Am- 
sterdam 
Dygert, Peter S., German Flats 
Dygert, George, German Flats 
Dorn, Peter, Johnstown 
Eisenlord, Maj. John, Palatine 

(secretary county committee) 
Empie, Jacob, Palatine 
Ehle, William, Palatine 
Ehle, Peter 

Eysler, John, Remesnyderbush 
& P. Frey, Maj. John, Palatine, 

Palatine committee 
Fox, Capt. Christopher P., Palatine 
Fox, Capt. Christopher W., Pala- 
tine, Palatine committee 
Fox, Peter, Palatine 
Fox, William, Palatine 
Fox, Charles, Palatine 
Fox, Christopher, Palatine 
Polts, Conrad, Herkimer 
Failing, Jacob, Canajoharie 
Failing, Henry, Canajoharie 
Failing, Henry N., Canajoharie 
Fralick. Valentine, Palatine 
Fonda, Jelles, Mohawk 
Fonda, Adam, Mohawk, Mohawk 

committee 
Frank, Adam 

Gardinier, Capt. Jacob, Glen 
Gardinier, Lieut. Samuel, Glen 
Grant, Lieut. Petrus, Amsterdam 
Geortner, Peter, Minden 
Geortner, George, Canajoharie 
Gray, Nicholas, Palatine 
Gray, Lieut. Samuel, Herkimer 

Graves, Capt. , 

Gremps, John (15 years old), 

Palatine 
Gros, Capt. Lawrence, Minden. 



52 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



w. 



K. 



K. 



K. 



K. 

K. 



K. 



P. 



K. 



K. 
K. 



W. 



K. 
K. 



Gray, Silas, Florida 
Groot, Lieut. Petrus, Amsterdam 
Harter, Henry, German Flats 
Herkimer, Gen. Nicholas, Danube, 

member Canajoharie committee 
Herkimer, Capt. George, Fort 

Herkimer, member German Flats 

committee 
Helmer, Capt. Frederick, German 

Flats, German Flats committee 
Helmer, John Adam, German Flats 

[Sent to fort by Gen. Herkimer] 
House, Lieut. John Joseph, Minden 
Hunt, Lieut. Abel (supposed), 

Florida 
Huffnail, Christian 
Hawn, Conrad, Herkimer 
Hiller, , Fairfield [shot from 

a tree-top] 
Huyck, John, Palatine 
Hand, Marcus, Florida 
Hall, William, Glen 
Hill, Nicholas 
Klock, Jacob I., Palatine 
Klepsaddle, Maj. Enos, German 

Flats 
Kilts, Conrad, Palatine 
Kilts, Peter, Palatine 
Keller, Andrew, Palatine 
Keller, Jacob, Palatine 
Keller, Solomon, Palatine 
Klock, John, St. Johnsville 
Klock, Col. Jacob G., St. Johnsville, 

member Palatine committee 
Klepsaddle, Jacob, German Flats 
Loucks, Lieut. Peter, Palatine 
Lintner, George, Minden 

Lighthall, , Palatine 

Longshore, Solomon, Canajoharie 
Louns, Henry, Canajoharie 
Lighthall, Francis, Ephratah 
Louis, Col., a St. Regis Indian with 

Oneidas. [He held a Lieuten- 
ant's commission, and was usu- 
ally called Colonel.] 
Moyer, Jacob, Fairlield [found 

with his throat cut.] 
Miller, Adam, Glen 
Miller, Jelles, Minden 
Miller, John P., Minden 
Miller, Henry, Minden 
Murray, David, Florida 
McMaster, Lieut. David, Florida 
Markell, Jacol), Springfield 
Merckley, William, Palatine 
Myers, JacoVj, German Flats 
Myers, Joseph, Herkimer 
Mowers, Conrad, supposed Danube 

Mowers, 

Mowers, , brothers 

Nellis, Philip, Palatine 
Nellis, Christian, Palatine 
Nellis, John D., Palatine 
Nestell, Peter, Palatine 
Newkirk, John, Florida 
Newkirk, Garret, son of John, 

Florida 
Paris, Hon. Isaac (murdered). 

Palatine Committee of Safety 
Paris, Peter, son of Isaac, Palatine 
Petry, Dr. William, Fort Herkimer 

Committee of Safety 



K. 
K. 



K. 



K. 
K. 
W. 

K. 

W. 
K. 



W. 
W. 



K. 
K. 



W. 
K. 

K. 
K. 
K. 

K. 
W. 

K. 



K. 



Pettingill, , Mohawk 

Petry, Lieut. Dederick Marcus, Ger- 
man Flats, German Flats com- 
mittee 
Petry, John Marks, German Flats 

Pettingall, -, town of Mohawk 

Putman, Ensign Richard, Johns- 
town 
Putman, Martinus, Johnstown 
Phillips, Cornelius, Florida 
Price, Adam, Canajoharie 
Pickard, Nicholas, (Canajoharie 
Petry, John, Herkimer, German 

Flats committee 
Petry, Joseph, Herkimer 
Petry, Lieut. Han Yost, Herkimer 
Pritchard, Nicholas, Minden 
Quackenlnish, Lieut. Abm. D., Glen 
Rechtor, Capt. Nicholas, Ephratah 
Radnour, Jacob, ]\Iinden 
Rother, John, Minden 
Raysnor, George, Minden 
Roof, Johannes, Fort Stanwix; af- 
terwards captain of exempts at 
Canajoharie 
Roof, John, a son (Col. of militia 

after the war) 
Rasbach, Marx, Kingsland 

Ritter, , Fairfield. Suffrenus 

Casselman, a tory, boasted of 
having cut Ritter's throat. 
Sammons, Sampson, Mohawk 

Committee of Safety 
Sammons, Jacob, Mohawk 
Shoemaker, Rudolph, Canajoharie 
Scholl, Ensign John Yost, Ephratah 
Sitts, Peter, Palatine 
Sharrar, Christian, Herkimer 

Sharrar, , a school teacher, 

Remesnyderbush 
Staring, Hendrick, Schuyler 
Shoemaker, Thomas, Herkimer 
Siebert, Rudolph 
Shults, George, Stone Arabia 
Shaull, Henry, Herkimer 

Shimmel, , Herkimer 

Sanders, Henry, Minden 

Shafer, William 

Seeber, Major William H., Minden, 

Canajoharie district committee 
Seeber, Capt. Jacob, Minden 
Seeber, Suffrenus, Canajoharie 
Seeber, Audolph, sons of William 

S., Minden 
Seeber, James, Canajoharie 
Seeber, Henry, Canajoharie 
Seeber, Lieut. John, Canajoharie 
Spencer, Henry (interpreter), an 

Oneida 
Schell, Christian, Schellsbush 
Smith, George, Palatine 
Smith, Henry, 

Swarts, Lieut. Jeremiah, Mohawk 
Sillenbeck, John G. 
Shults, John, Palatine 
Shults, George, Stone Arabia 
Simimer, Peter 
Stowitts, Philip G. P., Root 
Snell, Joseph, Snellsbush (now 

Manheim) 
Snell, Jacol), Snellsl)ush 
Snell, Frederick, Snellsbush 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



53 



K. 

K. 
K. 

K. 

P. 

W. 
W. 

W. 
K. 
K. 

K. 

W. 



P. 
W. 
K. 
K. 



K. 
P. 



P. 



P. 
W. 



Snell, Suffrenus, Snellsbush 
Snell. Peter, Snellsbush 
Snell, George, Snellsbush 
Snell, John, Stone Arabia 
Snell, John, Jun., a fifer, Stone 

Arabia 
Snell, Jacob, a committee man, 

Stone Arabia 
Sponable, John, Palatine 
Thum, Adam. St. Johnsville 
Thompson, Henry, Glen 
Timmerman, Jacob, St. Johnsville 
Tlmmerman, Lieut. Henry, St. 

Johnsville 
Timmerman, Conrad, St. Johns- 
ville 
Visscher, Capt. John, Mohawk 
Visscher, Col. Frederick, Mohawk, 

Mohawk committee 
"Van Alstyne, Martin C, Canajo- 

harie 
Van Deusen, George, Canajoharie 
Vedder, Henry 
Vols, Conrad, German Flats 
Vols, Lieut. Jacob, German Flats 
Van Slyke, Maj. Harmanus, 

Palatine, Palatine committee 
Van Slyke, Nicholas, a flfer. 

Palatine 
Van Horne, Cornelius, Florida 
Van Horne, Henry, Florida 

Van Slyke, , Canajoharie 

Van Antwerp, John, Glen 

Wagner, Lieut. Col. Peter, Palatine, 

Palatine committee 

Wormuth, , Palatine 

Wagner, Lieut. Peter, Palatine 
Wagner. George, Palatine 
Wagner, John. Palatine (sons of 

Lieut. Col. Peter Wagner) 
Wagner, Jacob, Minden 
Wagner, John, Canajoharie 
Walrath, Garret, Minden 
Walter, George, Palatine 
Westerman, Peter, Minden 
Wohle\'er, John, Fort Herkimer 
Wohlever, Richard, Fort Herkimer 
Wohlever, Peter Fort Herkimer 
Wohlever, Abram, Fort Herkimer 
Walrath, Lieut. Henry, Herkimer 
Weaver, Jacob, German Flats 
Weaver, Peter James, German Flats 
Widrick, Michael, Schuyler 
Wrenkle, Lawrence. Fort Herkimer 
Walrath, Jacob. Palatine 
Walrath, Henry, Herkimer 
Yates, Capt. Robert, supposed 

Root 
Yerdon, Nicholas, supposed Minden 
Younglove, Moses, surgeon. Stone 

Arabia 
Yoirker, Jacob. Oppenheim 
Zimmerman. Henry, St. Johnsville 



This list of names indicates that 
Herkimer's regiment was composed 
three-quarters of German farmers. 
With some Dutch from the eastern 
part of the county, while the balance 



of one-quarter consisted of men with 
Scotch, Irish, English, Welsh, Swiss 
and names of indeterminate national- 
ity. The foregoing roster contains 256 
names, the largest list yet published 
and gives the identity of a little less 
than one-third of the Tryon militia of 
Oriskany. Further research would 
probably add more men to this record. 
The homes of 225 of the 256 are given. 
Of these 225, the Palatine district fur- 
nished 71 and the Canajoharie 66 — 137 
combined. This great proportion of 
the regiment from this midsection of 
the valley may be due largely to the 
fact that more effort has been made 
to identify the men of Oriskany here- 
abouts, particularly by Simms. Of the 
five western Montgomery towns, Pala- 
tine furnishes to this list 55, Minden 
35, Canajoharie 21, St. Johnsville 8, 
Root 2, a total of 119. At least 20 of 
the patriots were members of the 
Tryon County Committee of Safety. 

The loss of the American force at 
Oriskany is variously stated by writers 
of the period. One account gives it 
as 160 killed and another as 160 killed 
and wounded. Whatever it was it 
was large for the force engaged, 
and the loss of the enemy at Orisk- 
any and during Willett's sortie was 
fully as great as that of the pro- 
vincials. 

Assuming the patriot force, which 
set out from Fort Dayton for Orisk- 
any, to have nuinbered 850 men, the 
roster here published comprises about 
two -sevenths of this valley regiment. 
This list, out of 256 names, has 63 
killed, 24 wounded and 11 prisoners. 
The same proportion carried out would 
make the Oriskany losses 224 killed, 
84 wounded and 37 prisoners. This 
probably is not accurate as to deaths, 
as more names of killed soldiers were 
probably remembered and recorded 
and put on the roster than . of the 
wounded, prisoners or unharmed. The 
proportion of wounded and prisoners 
may be assumed to be correct so that 
the opinion may be risked that the 
American losses were about 160 killed, 
80 wounded and 40 prisoners, a total 
patriot loss of 280. As 40 Senecas 
were killed, on the British side, it may 



54 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



be assumed that, aside from the pris- 
oners, the enemy's loss was as great 
and possibly greater, and this would 
indicate a total casualty list of 2,800 
engaged at Oriskany and Willett's 
sortie of 500 killed and wounded. 
This is merely ventured as an 
opinion, and the true or full ex- 
tent of the terrible losses at Oriskany 
(said to have been the bloodiest 
battle of the Revolution) on both 
sides will probably never be known. 
Certainly scores of dead were left 
by the provincials on the field 
and similarly, on the enemy's side, 
scores were buried by the Indians 
and Tories or were left lying in the 
forest where the battle was fought. 
Scores of wounded were carried down 
the valley by the patriots and back to 
the British and savage camps by the 
enemy. The patriot wounded were 
frequently slaughtered where they lay, 
many of the Americans being found, 
with their throats cut where they fell, 
by their comrades after the savage foe 
retreated. Here, as in many other 
Revolutionary conflicts, the Indians 
acted like bloodthirsty, cowardly wild 
beasts and, in many instances, their 
Tory comrades outdid them in deeds 
of bloody bestiality. The brave men, 
who went to this wood of death with 
Herkimer, came from the confines of 
the present counties of Montgomery, 
Fulton, Herkimer, Oneida and Otsego, 
all from the Mohawk valley with the 
exception of the men from the Cherry 
Valley and Springfield settlements. 



After the battle of Oriskany a song, 
commemorative of the event was 
composed, and for a long time sung in 
the Mohawk valley, of which the fol- 
lowing is a stanza: 
"Brave Herkimer, our General's dead. 
And Colonel Cox is slain; 
And many more and valiant men, 
We ne'er shall see again." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

1777 — Personal Experiences at Oris- 
kany — Indian and Tory Barbarities. 
Having had a general review of the 
Oriskany campaign, a few of the ex- 
periences and particulars of the pa- 



triot actors in that affair may be in 
order, particularly as they relate to 
the Palatine and Canajoharie men. 
Regarding details of the Oriskany 
confiict, Simms publishes the follow- 
ing experiences of those engaged: 

"It is only in the minor events at- 
tending a battle, that the reader is 
made to realize its fullness and see 
its horrors, and that the reader may 
see this deadly conflict * * * some 
of its interesting scenes are here de- 
picted. 

"At the beginning of the Revolution, 
there dwelt in Fort Plain, two broth- 
ers named George and Robert Crouse. 
The former was a man of family, and 
his sons. Col. Robert and Deacon 
Henry Crouse, are well remembered in 
this community, where four sons of 
the latter still reside, [at the time 
Simms wrote these incidents.] Rob- 
ert was a bachelor. Those brothers 
were remarkably large and well form- 
ed men, and would have served a 
sculptor as a model for a giant race. 
Robert was the tallest and came to 
be called a seven-footer, and is believ- 
ed to have stood full six and a half 
feet in his boots, and well propor- 
tioned. His great strength became 
proverbial, and two anecdotes have 
been preserved in the memory of our 
venerable friend, William H. Seeber, 
going to prove it. In January, 1776, on 
the occasion of Gen. Schuyler's as- 
sembling troops at Caughnawaga, now 
Fonda, to arrest Sir John Johnson, 
the Tryon county militia were ordered 
thither by Gen. Tenbroeck of Albany, 
to whose brigade they then belonged. 
Nicholas Herkimer, then the senior 
colonel of Tryon county troops, as- 
sembled them as directed. The Tryon 
county militia became a separate bri- 
gade in September, 1776, with Col. 
Herkimer as its acting general, and 
he was, as stated elsewhere, later com- 
missioned its brigadier general. While 
there the brigade was paraded on the 
ice in the river, and Robert Crouse 
was designated to bear the flag in sa- 
luting the generals. He waved it so 
easily and gracefully with one hand, 
when hardly another man present 
could have handled it with both hands, 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



00 



that not only the generals, but the 
entire assemblage was excited to ad- 
miration, and a significant murmur of 
applause was echoed from the hills 
hemming in the valley. Gen. Schuy- 
ler said to the officers near him, 'That 
man ought to have a commission,' and 
one is said to have been tendered him, 
which he declined. This incident 
probably accounts for the fact that 
Lieut. Sammons placed him among the 
^-officers killed at Oriskany. Henry 
Walrath, the strongest man by repu- 
tation in the Palatine settlements, 
came from Stone Arabia in the winter 
of 1775 and 1776, bringing a friend 
with him, as he told Robert Grouse, 
expressly to see which was the 
stronger man of the two. Said 
Grouse, 'Well, you go home and put 50 
skipples of wheat on your sleigh, and 
I will put 50 skipples with it, and the 
strongest one shall have the 100 skip- 
ples' — 75 bushels. The Stone Arabia 
bully never put in an appearance, 
which left Grouse the acknowledged 
champion. Robert Grouse was made 
a prisoner at Oriskany, and, as his 
friends afterward learned, by fellow 
prisoners who knew him, was most 
inhumanly murdered. Agreeable to 
the affidavit of Dr. Moses Younglove, 
who was also a prisoner from that 
battlefield, the Indians killed some of 
the prisoners at their own pleasure, 
and to his knowledge they tortured to 
death at least half a dozen. Of this 
number was Robert Grouse, who was 
the selected victim at one of their hell- 
ish orgies, as the late William Grouse, 
a nephew, learned subsequently by 
other prisoners who knew him. His 
remarkable stature possibly gave 
them a new idea of derisive torture, 
for, with their knives, they began by 
amputating his legs at the knee joints, 
and when accomplished they held him 
up on those bleeding limbs— derisively 
told him he was then as tall as those 
around him — and bade him walk. As 
his life was fast ebbing they sought 
other modes of torture. At length dis- 
patching him they tore off and se- 
cured for market his reeking scalp. 
Whether they ate any of his flesh is 
unknown, but it is not improbable 



they did as numbers of the Indians 
engaged in this contest had feasted on 
prisoners in earlier wars. Thus ig- 
nobly fell, not only the largest but 
one of the best men in the Mohawk 
valley." 

Sam Grouse, a giant Fort Plainer, 
who died about 1890, probably inherit- 
ed his enormous frame from these 
Revolutionary ancestors. 

Captain Jacob Gardinier: — after 
being literally riddled with bullets and 
bayonets, crept into a cavity at the 
roots of a tree and, by the aid of his 
waiter, a German lad, who loaded his 
gun for him, his hand having been 
lacerated by a bayonet, he continued 
the fight shooting from that position 
an Indian who was dodging about to 
get a shot at an American officer. Of 
this brave militia captain, said the 
Rev. Johan Daniel Gros of Fort Plain, 
in a work published after the war on 
"Moral Philosophy:" "Let it stand re- 
corded, among other patriotic deeds 
of that little army of militia, that a 
Jacob Gardinier, with a few of his 
men, vanquished a whole platoon, kill- 
ing the captain, after he had held him 
for a long time by his collar as a 
shield against the balls and bayonets 
of the whole platoon. This brave mil- 
itia captain is still alive and was 
cured of thirteen wounds." 

George Walter, at Oriskany, was 
struck down with a severe bullet 
wound. Faint from loss of blood, he 
crept to a spring and slaked his thirst 
and revived. While watching the 
fight, an Indian lurking near discov- 
ered him and, running up, gave him a 
blow on the head with his tomahawk, 
and in another moment had torn oft 
his reeking scalp. When found by his 
friends, some of his wounds were fly- 
blown, but he recovered and lived until 
1831, dying at a ripe old age. It is 
said that Walter, in telling of his ex- 
perience, remarked: "Dat Indian tot 
I vash det, but I knows petter all de 
time; but I tot I would say nodding so 
as he would go off." 

Gaptain Ghristopher W. Fox: — In the 
Palatine batallion of militia, there 
were three captains by the name of 
Fox, viz: Captain William Fox jr., 



56 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Capt. Christopher P. Fox and Captain 
Christopher W. Fox. Probably they 
were all in the Oriskany battle and 
the last two named were quite surely 
there. Christopher W. was severely 
wounded in the right arm, which was 
partially dressed on the ground, 
where he remained with his men; and, 
discovering an Indian crawling from 
behind a tree in the direction of the 
enemy's encampment, grasping his 
sword in his left hand he said to some 
of his men: "You keep an eye on me 
for safety and I will kill an Indian." 
As he approached the savage, a mutual 
recognition took place. The Indian 
was a half-breed called William John- 
son, and was a reputed son of his 
namesake, Sir William Johnson. He 
was down with a broken leg and 
begged for his life because he was 
wounded. "Ah," said the dauntless 
captain, directing the prostrate war- 
rior to his crippled arm, "I am wound- 
ed too, and one of us must die." In an 
instant, with his left hand, he thrust 
the keen-edged sword through the In- 
dian's body. This Captain Fox was 
wounded in the following fashion: He 
and a hostile Indian, under the cover 
of trees a few rods distant were, for 
some time, watching in a vain en- 
deavor to get some advantage of each 
other; and, thinking to draw the In- 
dian's shot, and win the game, Fox 
extended his hat upon his hand be- 
side a tree to attract the savage's at- 
tention. The ruse succeeded and the 
Indian supposing the hat contained a 
head, fired on the target; but unfor- 
tunately Fox had a long arm and had 
extended it so far that the ball struck 
it and, dropping the hat, the hand fell 
limp at his side. The Indian, seeing 
the hat fall, no doubt supposed he had 
killed his man, but considered the 
hazard of securing a scalp too great 
to approach his victim. It was com- 
mon practise to thrust out a hat on 
one's ramrod or a stick to draw an 
antagonist's charge, when fighting in 
the Indian fashion, but so reckless an 
act as that of this captain's seemed to 
merit the punishment. Fox became a 
major and resided after the war at 
Palatine Church. The following has 



a direct bearing on the above: 

"Reed., Williger, Oct. 16, 1779, of 
Christopher Fox, Esq., eight dollars in 
full for curing his arm of a wound re- 
ceived in the Oriskanj^ fight, £ 3. 4. 0. 
"Moses Younglove." 
Abram Quackenboss: — The last syl- 
lable of this name is written boss, but 
pronounced bush. One of the earliest 
Low Dutch families to locate in the 
present town of Glen was that of 
Quackenbush, as the name is now 
written. One of Quackenbush's boy- 
hood playmates, near the lower Mo- 
hawk castle at Fort Hunter, was an 
Indian called Bronkahorse, who was 
about his own age. Quackenbush was 
a lieutenant under the brave Capt. 
Gardinier. Among the followers of 
the Johnsons to Canada was his In- 
dian friend, who also tried to get the 
white Whig to go with him, assuring 
him that he would have the same office 
in the royal army. Their next meet- 
ing was in the dodging, tree-to-tree 
fight at Oriskany. The lieutenant 
heard himself addressed in a familiar 
voice, which he recognized as that of 
his early Indian friend, now posted be- 
hind a tree within gunshot of the one 
which covered his own person. "Sur- 
render yourself my prisoner and you 
shall be treated kindly," shouted the 
Mohawk brave, "but if you do not you 
will never get away from here alive — 
we intend to kill all who are not made 
prisoners!" The success of the enemy 
at the beginning of the contest made 
them bold and defiant. "Never will I 
become a prisoner," shouted back 
Quackenboss. Both were expert rifle- 
men and now watched their chance. 
Bronkahorse fired first and planted a 
bullet in the tree scarcely an inch from 
his adversary's head, but he had lost 
his best chance, as the lieutenant 
sprang to a new position from which 
his adversary's tree would not shield 
him, and in the next instant the In- 
dian dropped with a bullet through 
his heart. 

The Seebers: — Major William See- 
ber, who lived next to Fort Plain and 
was then nearly 60 years old, was 
mortally wounded in the battle, where 
his son Audolph was slain and Capt. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



57 



Jacob H. fell with a broken thigh. 
Jacob cut staddles and attempted to 
withe them about his broken leg to 
enable him to escape, but could not 
stand upon it, and gave up, expecting 
to be slain. Henry Failing, an ac- 
quaintance, came to him and offered 
to remove him to greater safety, but 
Seeber declined, telling his friend to 
load his gun, take the remainder of his 
cartridges and leave him to his fate. 
He was afterward removed and died 
at Fort Herkimer. Failing was also 
severely wounded, but removed and re- 
covered. 

Garret Walrath, a soldier in the 
Cana.loharie batallion, was at Oris- 
kany and is said to have never feared 
flesh or the devil. In one of the ter- 
rible encounters in the early part of 
the engagement, he was made prisoner 
and pinioned and told to keep close 
behind an Indian, who claimed all his 
attention. He often purposely ran 
against his captor, whining and com- 
plaining that his arms were so tightly 
drawn back. * * * At this period 
not only the Indians but the whites, 
especially those accustomed to hunt- 
ing, carried a sharp, well-pointed 
knife in a belt. Walrath * * * * 
cautiously grasped the handle of his 
knife and, watching his opportunity, 
in one of his stumbles over the heels 
of his captor, he adroitly plunged his 
knife into his body, and in the next 
instant he was a disembowled and 
dead Indian. The liberated captive, 
with his bloodj' knife in hand, cau- 
tiously sought his way back, and in 
an hour or two was welcomed by his 
surviving companions, who soon saw 
him armed again with a gun. 

Col. Henry Diefendorf was a brave 
militia captain from the present town 
of Minden, where his descendants still 
reside. In the discharge of his duties, 
he was shot through the lungs, during 
the latter part of the engagement. 
Near him when he fell were William 
Cox, Henry Sanders and probably 
others of his company. He begged for 
water, and Sanders stamped a hole in 
the marshy soil and, as the water set- 
tled in it, he took off his shoe and in 
it gave the dying man a drink. See- 



ing by the smoke from whence the 
shot came that struck down his cap- 
tain, Cox said: "Damn my soul, but 
I'll have a life for that one!" He ran 
to the tree before the foe could poss- 
ibly reload his gun, where he found a 
large Indian down with a broken leg. 
As Cox leveled his rifle, the warrior 
threw up his hand and shouted: "You- 
ker! you-ker!" which his adversary 
supposed was a cry for quarter. "I'll 
give you you-ker" said Cox as he sent 
a bullet through the Indian's head. He 
rejoined his comrades a few minutes 
later with the savage's gun. 

Henry Thompson was a helper to 
the doughty Capt. Gardinier, who 
lived and had a blacksmith shop near 
the present village of Fultonville. Into 
Oriskany he followed his brave em- 
ployer and, after the battle had raged 
for hours, he approached Gardinier 
and said he was hungry. "Fight 
away," shouted the captain. "I can't 
without eating," said the soldier. 
"Then get you a piece and eat," was 
the reply. He did so and sitting upon 
the body of a dead soldier, he ate with 
a real zest, while the bullets whistled 
about his head. His lunch finished, 
he arose and was again seen with re- 
newed energy where peril was the 
most imminent. 

Sir John Johnson married a daugh- 
ter of John Watts of New York city 
and her brother, Stephen Watts, join- 
ed Johnson when he went to Canada. 
He was a British captain at Oriskany 
and, in making a deperate charge he 
was wounded and made a prisoner. As 
the Americans could not be encum- 
bered with their wounded foes, he was 
left to his fate — and not despatched 
and scalped as were all wounded Am- 
ericans found by the enemy. Being 
discovered by Henry N. Failing, a pri- 
vate soldier [from the present town of 
Minden] in the Canajoharie district 
batallion, he kindly carried him to a 
little stream of water that hi; might 
there slake his thirst and die more 
easily. To his thanks for the soldier's 
kindness he added the gift of his watch. 
Two days after, Capt. Watts was dis- 
covered by some straggling Indians 
looking for plunder, was taken to the 



58 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



enemy's camp, properly' cared for ;\nO 
finally recovered. 

Among the tragic incidents of Oris- 
kany was one which happened at a 
tree afterward called "the bayonet 
tree." One of Herkimer's men was 
held up, dead or alive, and pinned to 
a tree several feet from the ground 
with a bayonet driven into thy tree 
several inches. Here tho body re- 
mained until it fell to the ground from 
decomposition. This bayonet was Id 
have been seen in the tree for more 
than a quarter of a century and until 
the tree had grown so as to bury most 
of the blade. 

Henry Thompson was not the only 
one of the patriots to satisfy his hun- 
ger during the battle. Adam Frank 
also opened his knapsack and sat down 
and made a hearty but hasty meal, 
after which he was heard to exclaim 
in German, "Jezt drauf auf die kerls!" 
— "Now we'll give it to them!" 

Captain Andrew Dillenbeck of Stone 
Arabia, was the hero of r fight which 
resulted in his death. Tories of John- 
son's Greens attempted to take him 
prisoner and, on Dillenbeck's saying 
he would not be taken alive, siezed his 
gun. Captain Dillenbeck wrenched it 
away and felled his enemy with the 
butt. He shot a second one dead, 
thrust a third through the body with 
his bayonet and then fell dead from a, 
Tory shot. 

Dr. Younglove, surgeon in the Tryon 
county brigade, was taken prisoner at 
Oriskany and, after his return to his 
Palatine home, made the following af- 
fidavit: 

"Moses Younglove, surgeon of Gen. 
Herkimer's brigade of militia, depos- 
eth and saith, that being in the battle 
of said militia on the 6th of August 
last, toward the close of the battle, he 
surrendered himself a prisoner to a 
Savage, who immediately gave him up 
to a sergeant of Sir John Johnson's 
regiment; soon after which a lieuten- 
ant in the Indian department, came up 
in company with several Tories, when 
said Mr. Grinnis, by name, drew his 
tomahawk at this deponent and with 
a deal of persuasion was kindly pre- 
vailed on to spare his life. He then 



plundered him of his watch, buckles, 
spurs, etc., and other Tories, following 
his example, stripped him almost 
naked, with a great many threats, 
while they were stripping and mas- 
sacreing prisoners on every side. That 
this deponent was brought before Mr. 
Butler Sen. (Col. John), who demand- 
ed of him what he was fighting for? 
to which deponent answered: 'He 
fought for the liberty that God and 
nature gave him, and to defend him- 
self and dearest connexions from the 
massacre of the savages.' To which 
Butler replied: 'You are a damned 
impudent rebel!' and so saying imme- 
diately turned to the savages, encour- 
aging them to kill him, and if they did 
not, the deponent and the other per- 
sons should be hanged on the gallows 
then preparing. That several prison- 
ers were then taken forward to the 
enemy's headquarters with frequent 
scenes of horror and massacre, in 
which Tories were active as well as 
savages; and in particular one Davis, 
formerly known in Tryon county, on 
the Mohawk river. That Lieut. Sin- 
gleton of Sir John Johnson's regiment, 
being wounded, entreated the savages 
to kill the prisoners, which they ac- 
cordingly did, as nigh as this deponent 
can judge, about six or seven. That 
Isaac Paris was also taken the same 
road without receiving from them any 
remarkable insult, except stripping, 
until some Tories came up who kicked 
and abused him, after which the sav- 
ages, thinking him a notable offender, 
murdered him barbarously. That those 
of the prisoners, who were delivered 
up to the provost guards, were ordered 
not to use any violence in protecting 
the prisoners from the savages, who 
came up every day with knives, feeling 
the prisoners to know which were fat- 
test. That they dragged one of the 
prisoners out of the guard with the 
most lamentable cries, tortured him 
for a long time, and this deponent was 
informed, by both Tories and Indians, 
that they ate him, as appears they did 
another on an island in Lake Ontario 
[Buck's Island] by bones found there 
nearly picked, just after they had 
crossed the lake with the prisoners. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



59 



That the prisoners who were not de- 
livered up were murdered, in consid- 
erable numbers, from day to day 
around the camp, some of them so 
nigh that their shrieks were heard. 
That Capt. Martin of the bateaux men, 
was delivered to the Indians at Os- 
wego, on pretence of his having kept 
back some useful intelligence. That 
this deponent, during his imprison- 
ment, and his fellows were kept al- 
most starved for provisions, and what 
they drew were of the worst kind, such 
as spoiled flour, biscuit full of mag- 
gots, and mouldy, and no soap allow- 
ed or other method of keeping clean, 
and were insulted, struck, etc., without 
mercy by the guards, without any 
provocation given. That this depon- 
ent was informed by several sergeants 
orderly on St. Leger that twenty dol- 
lars were offered in general orders for 
every American scalp. 

"Moses Younglove." 

"John Barclay, Chairman of Albany 
Committee." 

Lieut. Peter Groat and Andrew Cun- 
ningham, a neighbor, were captured at 
Oriskany and murdered at Wood 
creek, slices of their thighs being 
roasted and feasted upon by the sav- 
ages with zest and mirth. Peter Ehle, 
a fellow prisoner, saw his comrades 
killed. 

There were a few Oneidas with the 
provincials in this battle, among whom 
was the Indian interpreter, Spencer, 
who was killed. The Indians of the 
enemy suffered severely, being put 
forward early in the fight. The Sen- 
ecas alone lost over 60 in killed and 
wounded, while the Mohawks and 
other tribes suffered severely. The fire 
of the patriots was fully as deadly 
against the Tories, their captains, Mc- 
Donough, Wilson and Hare, lying dead 
on the field, with scores of men in 
Tory uniforms scattered around them. 
The great loss of the Indians has been 
made a pretext by English writers to 
justify the cruelties inflicted by them 
on their prisoners. Says the "Life of 
Mary Jemison" (the white woman), 
page 88: "Previous to the battle of 
Fort Stanwix, the British sent for the 
Indians (Senecas) to come and see 



them whip the rebels; and at the same 
time stated that they did not wish to 
have them fight, but wanted to have 
them just sit down, smoke their pipes 
and look on. Our Indians went to a 
man, but contrary to their expecta- 
tions, instead of smoking and looking 
on, they were obliged to fight for their 
lives and, in the end, were completely 
beaten, with a great loss in killed and 
wounded. Our Indians alone had 36 
killed and a great number wounded. 
Our town (Little Beard's Town) ex- 
hibited a scene of real sorrow and dis- 
tress, when our warriors returned and 
recounted their misfortunes, and stat- 
ed the real loss they had sustained in 
the engagement. The rhourning was 
excessive, and was expressed by the 
most doleful yells, shrieks and bowl- 
ings, and by inimitable gesticulations." 



Here is an incident of the defense of 
Fort Schuyler, of a time jtrobably after 
the Oriskany battle, from Judge Pom- 
eroy Jones's "Annals of Oneida 
County": — "A sentinel, posted on the 
northwest bastion of the fort, was shot 
with a rifle while walking his stated 
rounds in the gray of the morning; 
the next morning the second met the 
same fate, on the same post; the crack 
of the rifle was heard but from whence 
it came, none could conjecture, and 
the alarm being given, no enemy could 
be discovered. Of course, on the third 
night this station was dreaded as be- 
ing certain death and the soldier to 
whose lot it fell, quailed and hung 
back; but, to the surprise of the whole 
guard, a comrade offered to take his 
place and was accepted. Towards 
morning, the substitute sentinel drove 
a stake into the ground at the spot 
where his predecessors had been shot, 
on which he placed his hat and watch 
coat and with the help of a cord and a 
well stuffed knapsack, he soon had a 
A^ery good apology for a portly sol- 
dier, who stood to the life at 'support 
arms,' with his trusty shining musket. 
Having thus posted his 'man of straw,' 
he quietly sat down behind the para- 
pet closely watching through an em- 
brassure for coming events. At early 
dawn, the well known report of the 



60 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



same rifle was heard, and the column 
of smoke ascending from the thick 
top of a black oak tree some 30 or 40 
rods distant, showed the whereabouts 
of the marksman. The sergeant of 
the guard was soon on the spot and 
the commandant notified that the 
perch of the sharpshooter had been 
discovered. A four pounder was 
quickly loaded with canister and 
grape, and the sound of this morning 
gun boomed over the hill and dale in 
the distance, immediatelj' succeeded 
by a shout from the garrison, as they 
beheld one of Britain's red allies tum- 
bling head foremost from the tree top. 
On examining the counterfeit senti- 
nel, the holes through the various 
folds of the knapsack were more than 
circumstantial evidence that the aim 
was most sure, and that, had the 
owner stood in its place, he would have 
followed to his account those who had 
preceded him there. It Is hardly nec- 
essary to add that the sentinels on the 
northwest bastion were not afterwards 
molested." 



It was hoped, by surviving friends in 
the valley below, that the troops ad- 
vancing under Gen. Arnold to raise 
the siege of Fort Schuyler would be 
able to perform the melancholy task 
of burying the remains of our fallen 
soldiery at Oriskany. But, as over 
two weeks of excessively warm 
weather had transpired — it being then 
the 23d or 24th of August — decompo- 
sition had so rapidly taken place that 
the stench was intolerable, making it 
necessary for the health of the troops 
to give the field as wide a berth as 
possible.. So said James Williamson, 
who was a soldier under Arnold and 
who was on duty at Fort Stanwix. As 
the relieving American army force un- 
der Gen. Arnold approached Oriskany, 
evidences of its bloody onslaught 
greeted them. Here are some things 
which were noticed by Nicholas 
Stoner, a young musician in Col. Liv- 
ingston's regiment, and copied from 
Simms's "Trappers:" Near the mouth 
of the Oriskany creek a gun was found 
standing against a tree with a pair of 
boots hanging on it, while in the creek 



near, in a state bordering on putrefac- 
tion, lay their supposed owner. In the 
grass, a little way from the shore, lay 
a well dressed man without hat or 
coat, who, it was supposed, had made 
his way there to obtain drink. A black 
silk handkerchief encircled his head. 
John Clark, a sergeant, loosened it but 
its hair adhered to it on its removal, 
and he left it. He, however, took from 
his feet a pair of silver shoe buckles. 
His legs were so swollen that a pair 
of deerskin breeches were rent from 
top to bottom. On their way nine 
dead bodies lay across the road, dis- 
posed in regular order, as was imag- 
ined by the Indians after their death. 
The stench was so great that the Am- 
ericans could not discharge the last 
debt due their heroic countrymen, and 
their bones were soon after bleaching 
on the ground. A little farther on an 
Indian was seen hanging to the limb 
of a tree. He was suspended by the 
traces of a harness, but by whom was 
unknown. Such were some of the 
scenes, a mile or two away, but, where 
the carnage had been greatest, they 
had to make as wide a circuit as pos- 
sible. Not an American killed in that 
battle was ever buried. 



Scalping was done to some extent 
by the American troops, but was not 
prompted by the hope of reward, as 
in the case of the Indians and Tories. 
"Scalps for the Canadian market" 
proved a source of revenue to the In- 
dians, who took them to Montreal and 
redeenied them for cash, receiving 
payment for those of men, women and 
children alike. Lossing gives the fol- 
lowing account of this diabolical prac- 
tise: "The methods used by the Indians 
in scalping is probably not generally 
known. I was told by Mr. Dievendorff 
[who was scalped as a boy in Dox- 
tader's Currytown 1781 raid and sur- 
vived to an old age] that the scalping 
knife was a weapon, not unlike in ap- 
pearance the bowie knife of the pres- 
ent day. The victim was usually 
stunned or killed by a blow from a 
tomahawk. Sometimes only a portion 
of the scalp (as was the case with Mr. 
Dievendorff) was taken from the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



CI 



crown and the back part of the head, 
but more frequently the whole scalp 
was removed. With the dexterity of 
a surgeon, the Indian placed the point 
of his knife at the roots of the hair 
on the forehead and made a circular 
incision around the head. If the hair 
was short, he would raise a lappet of 
the skin, take hold with his teeth, and 
tear it instantly from the skull. If 
long, such as the hair of females, he 
would twist it around his hand, and, 
by a sudden jerk, bare the skull. The 
scalps were then tanned with the hair 
on, and often marked in such a man- 
ner that the owners could tell when 
and where they were severally obtain- 
ed, and whether they belonged to men 
or women. When Major Rogers, in 
1759, destroyed the chief village of the 
St. Francis Indians, he found there a 
vast quantity of scalps, many of them 
comically painted with heiroglyphics. 
They were all stretched on small 
hoops." A remarkable phase of this 
unspeakable practise, is that a large 
number of the valley people who were 
scalped, recovered and lived to an old 
age. This was due to the hurried way 
in which many of the Indian attacks 
were made, so that the victims were 
stunned and not killed. 

Col. John Butler had charge of the 
traffic in scalps with the Indians, dur- 
ing the Oriskany campaign, and prob- 
ably later. Simms says "the usual 
bounty, after a time, was $8 for all, 
except those of officers and commit- 
teemen, which commanded from $10 
to $20." That there was such a traffic 
in scalps has been denied by English 
writers but the fact seems substanti- 
ated by abundant evidence. 



Undoubtedly the leading patriot in 
the valley at that time was Nicholas 
Herkimer, a resident of the Canajo- 
harie district and in command of the 
Tryon county militia and of the forces 
at Oriskany. His father, Johan Jost 
Herkimer, had emigrated from the 
Palatinate about 1720 and settled on 
the Burnetsfield patent. At Fort Her- 
kimer he established a trading place 
and later built a strong stone house 
which was stockaded and became the 



fort, bearing his name. Johan Jost 
Herkimer, legend says, was a man of 
mighty strength among a population 
of men of muscle. He knew the En- 
glish and Indian languages, as well as 
his nati\Ts German, and acted as inter- 
preter between the English and In- 
dians. He was concerned in the erec- 
tion of Fort Stanwix and became a 
man of considerable property and died 
in 1775 at Fort Herkimer. His son, 
Nicholas, settled east of Fall Hill in 
the Canajoharie district and built there 
a substantial brick residence, in 1764, 
which is now standing. While at Fort 
Herkimer, Herkimer commanded that 
post during the two attacks of the 
French war, he then being a lieuten- 
ant of militia. His commission for 
this rank is now in the possession of 
a collateral descendant in San Fran- 
cisco, while his brigadier-general's 
commission, from the New York pro- 
vincial congress, hangs on the walls of 
a Fort Plain house. He was a mem- 
ber of the Tryon County Committee 
of Safety from Canajoharie district 
and colonel of the militia of that dis- 
trict, and colonel-in-chief of the coun- 
ty. In 1776 he was made a briga- 
dier-general. He is described by 
one who saw him as a large, 
square built Dutchman and, con- 
trary to many accounts which rep- 
resent him as an old man at the time 
of the battle, family figures give his 
age at 49, and family tradition has it 
that he was then a sturdy, vigorous 
man, all of which is borne out by 
Oriskany events. Herkimer was a 
close friend of Brant and probably of 
other Mohawks, and was possibly the 
most influential Whig figure of the 
time in Tryon county. He served as 
chairman pro tem of the committee of 
safety and some of its papers and let- 
ters extant are signed by him. He 
seems to have been a man of sound 
sense, wise counsel and quick and ef- 
fective action. His prestige was 
dimmed by the Tory action of his 
brother, Han Yost Herkimer, who was 
a militia colonel but ran away to Can- 
ada. Of his other brothers, only Capt. 
George Herkimer, an ardent Whig and 
scout officer, was with him at Oris- 



62 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



kany, although other brothers were 
patriots with the exception of Han 
Yost. Undoubtedly Herkimer's strong 
Whig attitude and military ability had 
great effect in upholding the cause of 
independence in the county, ' particu- 
larly among the "Mohawk Dutch." 
His first wife was a sister of Peter S. 
Tygert and his second wife a daughter 
of the same. He left no children. 
Gen. Herkimer left an estate of 
1,900 acres of land and willed 
his brother, George Herkimer, 500 
acres and his homestead, where the 
latter was living in 1783, when Gen. 
Washington made his tour through 
the valley when he stopped here. The 
general in his will signed his name 
Nicholas "Herckheimer," although he 
varied it at other times. Herkimer's 
wound was not mortal but unskilful 
amputation of his wounded leg caused 
his death. It is said that the leg was 
sawed off short without tying the blood 
vessels up and the sturdy patriot 
slowly bled to death. When the leg 
was amputated two neighborhood boys 
buried it in the garden, and shortly 
after the General said to one of 
them: "I guess you boys will have to 
take that leg up and bury it with me, 
for I am going to follow it." The am- 
putation was done by a young French 
surgeon with Arnold's expedition up 
the valley against the advice of the 
General's doctor. Dr. Petrie. Col. Wil- 
lett called to see Herkimer soon after 
the operation and found him sitting 
up in bed and smoking his pipe. His 
strength failed toward night and, call- 
ing his family to his chamber, he read 
composedly the 38th psalm, closed the 
book, sank back upon his pillow and 
expired. The last three stanzas of this 
Psalm read as follows: 

They also that render evil for good 
are mine adversaries; because I fol- 
low the thing that good is. 

Forsake me not, O Lord; O my God, 
be not far from me. 

Make haste to help me, O Lord my 
salvation. 

Christopher P. Yates, who was a 
man of fine intellect and an efficient 
patriot, said of Herkimer: "I claim 



not for the General that he was versed 
in Latin or Greek, or in the philosophy 
of the German schools; but I claim for 
him, that no German immigrant was 
better read in the history of the Pro- 
testant reformation, and in the phil- 
osophy of the Bible than Gen. Her- 
kimer." 

Johan Jost Herkimer, the first of 
the family in the valley, left thirteen 
children — five sons and eight daugh- 
ters, which gives an idea of the size of 
the valley families of the day. The 
marriages of the children of Jo- 
han Jost Herkimer gives an idea 
of the ratio of the Teutonic ele- 
ments in the western Mohawk valley 
in the eighteenth century. Of these 
known marriages nine are with people 
of German ancestry, three with people 
of Holland blood and one (that of 
Hendrick Frey) with a person of Swiss 
descent. 

Jurgh, Johan Jost, Madalana and 
Catharina Herkimer (or Erghemar) 
were patentees named in the Burnets- 
field grant of 1725. Johan Jost was 
doubtless the progenitor of the family 
in America. Just who the others were, 
in relationship to him, is not definitely 
known. They are supposed to have 
come over in the Palatine immigra- 
tion of 1722 and in this patent 100 
acres was allotted to each of them on 
the south side of the river in the 
neighborhood that subsequently be- 
came known as Fort Herkimer. There 
is a tradition that Johan Jost carried 
a child and some of his chattels on his 
back from Schenectady to German 
Flatts. A family legend gives the 
story that on the first Herkimer's ar- 
rival at his future wilderness home, 
he asked permission, of his Indian 
neighbors, to build a cabin. They at 
first refused him, to Herkimer's great 
chagrin. At this time, these savages 
were busy trying to carry a dugout 
they had recently completed to the 
Mohawk. On account of its weight 
they were having diflficulty in moving 
the canoe and asked the pioneer to 
help them. Motioning all the Mo- 
hawks to get on one end of the heavy 
boat, the stalwart German lifted the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



63 



other end alone, and in this way the 
dugout was carried to the neighboring 
river. Astounded at the white man's 
great strength, the Indians at once 
gave Herkimer permission to build a 
cabin and cultivate the land. 

Located amid a beautiful landscape, 
with the flatlands stretching away to 
the river and lofty Fall Hill in the 
background, the home of General Her- 
kimer, in Danube, is a fine example 
of the Colonial Mohawk valley houses. 
Built of brick and finely finished, it is 
a monument to the solidity of charac- 
ter of the valley's early Teutonic set- 
tlers. It, in connection with the mon- 
ument and the Herkimer family burial 
plot, has been, a number of times, the 
scene of patriotic gatherings. Here is 
located the first of the markers, which 
were put in position in the summer of 
1912, to show the route of the valley 
militia in its march to the field of 
Oriskany. Capt. George Herkimer 
succeeded to the ownership of the 
house and its farm and, on his death, 
it passed to his son, Hon. John Herki- 
mer, who occupied it until about 1815, 
when it passed out of the Herkimer 
family. Lossing, in 1848, writing of 
this place, says: "After breakfast I 
rode down to Danube, to visit the resi- 
dence of General Herkimer while liv- 
ing and the old Castle church, near 
the dwelling place of Brant in the Rev- 
olution. It was a pleasant ride along 
the tow path between the canal and 
river. Herkimer's residence is about 
two and a half miles below Little Falls, 
near the canal, and in full view of the 
traveler upon the railroad, half a mile 
distant. It is a substantial brick edi- 
fice, was erected in 1764, and was a 
splendid mansion for the time and 
place. It is now owned by Daniel Con- 
ner, a farmer, who is 'modernizing' it, 
when I was there, by building a long, 
fashionable piazza in front, in place of 
the [former] small old porch, or stoop. 
He was also 'improving' some of the 
rooms within. The one in which Gen- 
eral Herkimer died (on the right of the 
front entrance), and also the one, on 
the opposite side of the passage, are 
left precisely as they were when the 
general occupied the house; and Mr. 



Conner has the good taste and patriot- 
ism to preserve them so. These rooms 
are handsomely wainscoated with 
white pine, wrought into neat mold- 
ings and panels, and the casements of 
the deep windows are of the same ma- 
terial and in the same style. Mr. Con- 
ner has carefully preserved the great 
lock of the front door of the 'castle'— 
for castle it really was in strength and 
appointments against Indian assaults. 
It is sixteen inches long and ten wide. 
Close to the house is a subterranean 
room, built of heavy masonry and 
arched, which the general used as a 
magazine for stores, belonging to the 
Tryon County militia. It is still used^ 
as a storeroom but with more pacific 
intentions. The family burying ground 
is upon a knoll a few rods southeast 
of the mansion, and there rest the re- 
mains of the gallant soldier, as seclud- 
ed and forgotten as if they were of 
'common mold.' Seventy years ago the 
Continental Congress, grateful for his 
services, resolved to erect a monument 
to his memory of the value of five 
hundred dollars; but the stone that 
may yet be reared is still in the 
quarry, and the patriot inscription to 
declare its intent and the soldier's 
worth is not yet conceived. Until 1847 
no stone identified his grave. Then a 
plain marble slab was set up with the 
name of the hero upon it; and when I 
visited it (1848), it was overgrown 
with weeds and brambles. It was 
erected by his grandnephew, Warren 
Herkimer." In 1895, under the aus- 
pices of the Oneida Historical society, 
an imposing stone shaft was here 
erected to the memory of Herkimer, 
bearing the inscription "Vorwaert" 
(forward), his command to the militia, 
which started the march of the impa- 
tient men to the field of Oriskany. 

A statue of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer 
was erected in the park at Herkimer 
in 1907 on the occasion of the cele- 
bration of the centennial of that vil- 
lage. It is an excellently modeled 
figure, cast in bronze, and represents 
the Oriskany leader, wounded and 
seated upon his saddle, pipe in hand, 
while he directs the battle. The ac- 
tion of the statue, pointing the way to 



64 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



victory, is vigorous and inspiring. Tlie 
sculptor was Burr C. Miller of Paris, 
and the work is the gift to Herkimer 
of Warner Miller, former United States 
Senator from the state of New York, 
a resident of that town and father of 
the sculptor. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
1778 — Indian Council at Johnstown, 
March 9 — Manheim, Caroga, Spring- 
field, Andrustown, German Flats 
Raids — Cherry Valley Massacre. 
Early in 1778 the alarming news 
came to the valley that the western 
Indian tribes were to unite with the 
Mohawks. Cayugas, Onondagas and 
Senecas in a war upon the frontier, 
instigated by the Johnsons, Claus and 
Butler. Congress thereupon ordered 
a council held with the Six Nations 
at Johnstown in February and ap- 
pointed Gen. Schuyler and Volkert P. 
Douw to conduct it together with a 
commissioner named James Duane, 
appointed by Governor Clinton. The 
Indians showed little interest in 
the conference and delayed coming 
until March 9. There were then pres- 
ent more than seven hundred of them, 
mostly friendly Oneidas and Tuscar- 
oras and hostile Onondagas, with a 
few Mohawks, three or four Cayugas 
and not one of the Senecas, whose 
warriors outnumbered those of all the 
other Iroquois. Instead of attending 
the council the Senecas sent a message 
expressing surprise that they were 
asked to come while the American 
"tomahawks were sticking in their 
heads, their wounds bleeding and their 
eyes streaming with tears for the loss 
of their friends," meaning at the bat- 
tle of Oriskany, which shows the ex- 
tent of the damage the patriots in- 
flicted on that fateful day. 

The Oneidas and Tuscaroras ex- 
pressed their allegiance to the United 
States and predicted the extinction of 
the hostile tribes. The rest of the In- 
dians had little to say, excepting an 
Onondaga chief who hypocritically la- 
mented the course of his tribe, laying 
it to the young and headstrong war- 
riors. Nothing was effected by the 



conference, except the satisfactory ex- 
pression of allegiance on the part of 
the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. The 
commissioners closed the council by 
warning the hostile Iroquois to look 
to their behavior as the American 
cause was just or a terrible venge- 
ance would overtake them. The Mar- 
quis de Lafayette, who was tempor- 
arily in command of the northern de- 
partment was at the Johnstown coun- 
cil and considerably improved the 
frontier defences by ordering forts 
Iniilt at Cherry Valley and in the One- 
ida country, the three Schoharie forts 
garrisoned and armed and other bor- 
der fortifications strengthened. Learn- 
ing among other Tory activities. Col. 
Guy Carlton, nephew of the governor 
of Canada, was on a spying tour in the 
neighborhood, efforts were made for 
his capture, Lafayette himself offering 
a reward of fifty guineas for his ar- 
rest. 



Irruptions of scalping parties of Ca- 
nadian Indians and Tories began in 
the Mohawk valley about 1778 and 
continued up to 1783, when a peace 
treaty was signed. It is impossible to 
tell of each of these because they were 
so numerous, and records of all have 
not been preserved. One of the first, 
in the settlement of Manheim, oc- 
curred on April 3, 1778, under com- 
mand of Captain Crawford, two weeks 
after the sacking of Fairfield, Herki- 
mer county. About 50 Indians and 
Tories raided the Mohawk valley in 
the settlement of Manheim, near Little 
Falls. Among the Tories were L. 
Casselman, Countryman and Bowers, 
who had gone to join the British 
forces in Canada from the lower Mo- 
hawk. The marauders captured the 
miller, John Garter and his boy John 
and Joseph Newman and Bartholomew 
Pickert, who happened to be at the 
mill. At Windecker's place, James 
Van Slyck, his son-in-law, was sick in 
bed and, for a wonder, was unharmed 
by the savages. The prisoners made 
here and in the vicinity were John 
House, Forbush, John Windecker, a 
boy of 13; Ganet Van Slyck. another 
boy; John Cypher, Helmer, Jacob 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



65 



Uher, George Attle. The two latter 
were rangers on a scout from Fort 
Snyder. Garter's mill was burned, but 
no other dwellings were destroyed and 
no one was killed. Four Whigs were 
captured in Salisbury, Herkimer coun- 
ty. The march to Canada was made 
through the snow and great hardships 
were suffered. Windecker's Indian 
captor proved very kind and carried 
him across several rapid streams on 
his back. Windecker said afterward, 
concerning their scarcity of food, that 
"An Indian would eat anything except 
crow." This raid was one of the ear- 
liest of the war and was not marked 
by the bloody ferocity which charac- 
terized the later ones. 



The following, concerning the inva- 
sion of Ephratah in the Palatine dis- 
trict, in April, 1778, is 'abridged from 
Simms's "Frontiersmen of New York," 
Vol. II., pp. 146-151: 

In 1773, 20 or more German families 
settled along Garoga creek in the pres- 
ent town of Ephratah and some at the 
present site of Kringsbush. These 
Germans were part of a shipload of 
immigrants, mostly from the district 
of Nassau near Frankfort-on-the- 
Main, which landed at Baltimore in 
1773. Many of them settled in the 
Mohawk valley. The immigration 
from Germany, and even from Hol- 
land, into New York state was prac- 
tically continuous from the time of 
first settlement up to the Revolution. 
On this voyage very rough weather 
was encountered on the Atlantic, the 
masts went by the board and the ship 
nearly foundered. 

The settlement of Ephratah was so 
called after a place of that name in 
Germany. Prominent among these set- 
tlers was Nicholas Rechtor, whose 
father, Johannes Rechtor, carne from 
Hesse in Germany and settled at Nis- 
kautau, six miles below Albany. These 
early Ephratah families all built log 
houses, except Rechtor, who put up a 
frame house and barn. Simms says 
this house was still standing (in 
1882), "just back of a public house 
in Caroga, so called after the 
creek passing through it — the orig- 



inal name still attaching to the 
settlement." Rechtor was located 
about three miles west of the stone 
grist mill Sir William Johnson had 
built for the use of that region which 
was then known as Tilleborough. 
Within a radius of five or six miles 
from Nicholas Rechtor's house the fol- 
lowing were located: Jacob Appley, 
Jacob Frey, John Hurtz, Conrad Hart, 
John Smith, Henry Smith, John Cool, 
Jacob Deusler, Leonard Kretzer, Henry 
Hynce, Flander, Phye, John Spank- 
aV)le (now Sponable), John Winkle. 

Among the settlers in the Krings- 
bush section were Matthias Smith, 
Leonard Helmer, Joseph Davis and his 
brother-in-law, John Kring, after 
whom the settlement was named. 

In 1775, a small company of militia 
was organized among these settlers 
along the Caroga. The officers were 
Nicholas Rechtor, Captain; John Wil- 
liams, George Smith, lieutenants; John 
Sholl, ensign. This company was in 
the Oriskany battle where Capt. Rech- 
tor was thrown from and stepped on 
by his horse, disabling him. 

About four in the afternoon of April 
30, 1778, about 20 Indians and Tories 
invaded the Ephratah settlement. 
Most of the farmers were making 
maple sugar. Rechtor was drilling 20 
men of his militia company about a 
mile from his home. Six of the enemy 
made their first appearance at the 
Harts' home and killed Conrad Hart, 
the father, and took captive his son 
Wilhelmus, a youth of 16. They plun- 
dered and burned Hart's building and 
from thence went to Jacob Appley's, 
where they destroyed all property. A 
daughter of Hart had, in the mean- 
time escaped, at the time of the first 
attack, and ran to where the militia 
company was drilling. Instead of 
Rechtor and his men attacking the 
enemy in force they split up and ran 
singly or in small companies of three 
or four toward their homes. Jacob 
Appley, Daniel Hart and Peter Shyke 
went with Capt. Rechtor to his home. 

The enemy had already reached 
Rechtor's. Here the savages, both 
Tory and Indian, found considerable 
plunder as the captain was well pro- 



66 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



vided with the worldly goods for that 
time and locality. They were some 
time in packing up and Mrs. Rechtor, 
ol)jecting to the wholesale looting of 
her household, was struggling with a 
big Indian over a long-handled frying 
pan. The Americans came up on the 
run and fired at the Indian. The shot 
struck the pan handle, glanced down 
and wounded the woman in the ankle. 
A general melee took place. Appley 
shot an Indian and was himself shot 
down. Shyke was severely wounded 
and Captain Rechtor was hit in the 
right arm. Helmus Hart came up with 
his hands bound, he having been tied 
to a tree when the Hart house was at- 
tacked. The Americans released his 
hands and he joined in the fight, which 
soon ended in the enemy running 
away. 

At this time few of the settlers had 
been killed as they were in the sugar 
l)ush distant from their dwellings. 
Rechtor gathered all of his family (of 
seven children) that he could find and 
set out for Fort Paris, which he reach- 
ed at midnight. The two youngest 
girls and the youngest boy could not 
be found in the bush, as they evi- 
dently feared Indians and would not 
venture forth even in reply to the calls 
of their parents. Appley was so se- 
verely wounded that he had to be left 
and, at his request, was propped up 
against the oven with a gun in his 
hand. Rechtor's little four-year-old 
boy Henry now came home and got 
himself some bread and milk and be- 
gan eating it. Ju§t then the savages 
came back. Appley shot and killed 
one and was himself killed and scalp- 
ed and loft with a bayonet sticking 
through his heart. The little boy 
Henry was killed and scalped and 
thrown into the creek. Here the dead 
little body was found next day, one 
hand still clutching the spoon with 
which he had been eating. The en- 
emy's stay was short as they were 
gone when, shortly after, the two 
youngest Rechtor girls came out of 
the bush. Seeing Appley's dead body 
they ran in fright to their neighbor 
Hart's house. This they found burned 
and Hart dead and mangled and, so in 



great fright, they ran back into the 
bush where they stayed all night. In 
the morning they found neighbors and 
were taken to Fort Paris, where they 
rejoined their family. 

After leaving Rechtor's the enemy 
captured Peter Loucks, whom they 
took to Canada. A company of Am- 
erican soldiers, from Fort Paris, start- 
ed in pursuit the next morning. May 
1, 1778. Theyhad Henry Flathead, a 
■■friendly" Indian, for a guide. Coming 
upon the enemy's campfire this Indian 
gave a yell, probably to warn his red 
brethren. When the company came 
up meat was still cooking in the fire, 
but the enemy had vanished and could 
not be found. 

At the time of the Ephratah inva- 
sion, two Indians of the raiding party 
shot and killed a girl named Rickard, 
as she was flriving home cows near 
Fort Klock in the east end of the pres- 
ent town of St. Johnsville. Hearing 
the shot, George Klock came running 
out with his gun and as the Indians 
made for the girl's body to scalp it, 
he fired and they made for the woods 
and disappeared. Going north this 
pair of savages made John Smith a 
prisoner at Kringsbush and took him 
to Canada. He was a son of Matthias 
Smith, a veteran of Oriskany. 

After the Ephratah raid most of the 
Whig families abandoned their homes, 
which were left standing by the Tories 
to afford themselves shelter on subse- 
quent raids. Rechtor removed to his 
old homo below Albany until after 
the war, when most of the surviving 
Ephratah settlers came back to their 
lands there. The raid along the Car- 
oga was one of the first in the Mohawk 
valley attended with bloodshed. 

On the day of the Ephratah raid a 
party of Senecas ravaged a portion of 
the Schoharie valley. 



Joseph Brant and his warriors gath- 
ered at Oghkwaga early in 1778. This 
place is now Windsor, in Broome 
county. 

Brant appeared at Unadilla in the 
spring of 1778 and Capt. McKean was 
sent by the people of Cherry Valley 
with a small force to reconnoitre the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



67 



Indian position. McKean injudiciously 
wrote Brant a letter violently de- 
nouncing him and asking- him to come 
to Cherry Valley, with the taunting 
remark that there he would be chang- 
ed from a "brant" to a "goose." Brant 
was enraged by this letter and answer- 
ed it later with the Cherry Valley 
massacre. 

Brant's first hostile movement of 
consequence, after his return to Oghk- 
waga in the spring of 1778, was to fall 
upon the little settlement at Spring- 
field, at the head of Otsego lake. This 
was in the month of May and every 
house was burned but one, into which 
the women and children were collect- 
ed and kept unharmed. Several men 
were captured and much plunder was 
taken but no one was murdered, prob- 
ably because of no Tories being pres- 
ent. 

At this same time, in May, 1778, 
Brant started out to destroy the 
Cherry Valley settlement. While 
reconnoitering the village from a 
distant hill he saw a company of 
boys drilling on the open space in front 
of the fort. He mistook these young 
patriots for soldiers and, thinking 
this post was strongly garrisoned, he 
deferred his attack until a later 
time. Drawing off his warriors he re- 
paired to the deep glen northwest of 
the village to see if he could inter- 
cept any travellers along the road to 
the Mohawk and so pick up any in- 
formation. Lieut. Matthew Wormuth, 
with a companion, started from Cher- 
ry Valley that evening to Fort Plain. 
The same day he had left Fort Plain 
to tell the Cherry Valley people that 
the militia would come up the next 
day, as Brant was known to be in the 
neighborhood. While Wormuth and Sitz, 
his companion, were riding along the 
edge of this glen, on their return to 
Fort Plain, Brant's warriors fired upon 
them, mortally wounding Wormuth 
and capturing Sitz. Lieutenant Wor- 
muth was of Col. Klock's Palatine 
battalion, and that officer came up the 
next day with the valley militia, but 
Brant had fled and all that could be 
done was to take back Wormuth's 
body to Fort Plain, and thence to his 



father's home across the river in Pala- 
tine. Wormuth had been a personal 
friend of Brant, who expressed regret 
at the young officer's death. 



In July Brant destroyed the little 
settlement of Andrustown, six miles 
southeast of German Flats, killing its 
inhabitants and driving away its live 
stock. 

In the summer of 1778, Brant's long 
stay at Unadilla, without striking a 
blow on some of the exposed points of 
the frontier, excited suspicion among 
the inhabitants of the valley that he 
might be planning an attack on them, 
and a scouting party of four men was 
accordingly sent out to watch his 
movements. These rangers fell in 
with tlie enemy and three were killed. 
The fourth, John Adam Helmer, the 
famous scout, escaped and returned to 
German Flatts at sundown and gave 
the alarm that Brant and a large force 
would be upon the settlements in a 
short time. At nightfall the enemy, 
numbering about 300 Tories and 150 
Indians, came to the outskirts of the 
settlements and stopped near the 
house of Brant's Tory friend. Shoe- 
maker. Here the force remained until 
early morning. The settlers fled to 
Forts Dayton and Herkimer, taking 
with them their most precious belong- 
ings. Brant and his red and white 
warriors devastated the country in the 
vicinity of these forts, early the next 
day, and the whole valley thereabouts 
was illuminated with the light of burn- 
ing houses, barns and crops. Only 
two or three persons were killed in 
this foray, but 63 dwellings, 57 barns, 
three grist-mills and two saw-mills 
were burned, and 235 horses, 269 
sheep, 229 cattle and 93 oxen were 
taken and driven off by Brant and his 
raiders. This happened about Sept. 1, 
1778. No scalps or prisoners w'ere 
taken and the enemy ventured no at- 
tack on the forts. 

In September, Col. Klock wrote to 
Gov. Clinton that 150 families were 
left destitute and homeless in the val- 
ley by the many Indian raids of 1778 
up to that month. 



68 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Walter Butler had obtained a trans- 
fer from the Albany jail to a friendly 
Tory's house by feigning sickness. 
He intoxicated his guard and escaped. 
In November, 1778, he, together with 
Brant, fell upon the Cherry Valley 
settlement with a force of seven hun- 
dred Tories and Indians and killed 32 
people and 16 soldiers of the garrison, 
looted the place, burned all the build- 
nigs and took captive most of the sur- 
vivors. The women and children were 
allowed to return, with the exception 
of three women and their children, 
one of the women being murdered a 
day or two after the massacre. 

At the time of the Cherry Valley 
massacre Lieut. Col. James Gordon of 
the Saratoga militia, is supposed to 
have been in command at Fort Plain 
and ordered Col. Klock's regiment and 
the company under Capt. Van Den- 
bergh at Fort Plank to march to re- 
lief of Cherry Valley, where they ar- 
rived two hours after the enemy had 
gone. Some survivors from the af- 
flicted district fled to Fort Plain for 
safety and many of them remained in 
its vicinity for the balance of the war. 

Lossing gives an account of the 
Cherry Valley massacre, which we 
here abridge: 

Colonel Ichabod Alden of Massa- 
chusetts, was in command of the fort 
and 250 men. On the 8th of Novem- 
ber, he had received a dispatch from 
Fort Schuyler saying his fort was 
about to be attacked, but treated it 
with unconcern and refused to allow 
the alarmed inhabitants to move into 
the fort or even leave their property 
there. However, Col. Alden sent out 
scouting parties. One of these, which 
went toward the Susquehanna, built a 
fire, went to sleep, and awoke prison- 
ers of Brant and Butler. From them 
all necessary information was extort- 
ed. The next day the raiders camped 
on a lofty hill covered with ever- 
greens, about a mile southwest of the 
village and overlooking the whole set- 
tlement. From that observatory they 
could see almost every house in the 
village. From the prisoners they 
learned that the officers were quarter- 
ed out of the fort and that Col. Alden 



and Lieut. Col. Stacia were at the 
house of Robert Wells, recently a judge 
of the county and formerly an inti- 
mate friend of Sir William Johnson 
and Col. John Butler. Early in the 
morning of Nov. 10, 1778, the enemy 
marched slowly toward the village. 
Snow had fallen during the night and 
the morning was dark and misty. A 
halt was made to examine the mus- 
kets, although the Indians, crazy for 
blood, could hardly be restrained. A 
settler on horseback, going toward the 
village, was shot, but, being only 
slightly wounded, galloped on and gave 
the alarm. The savages rushed in on 
the settlement. Wells's house was at- 
tacked and the whole family murdered 
together with Col. Alden, who escaped 
from a window but was struck down 
and scalped. The families of Mr. Dun- 
lap, the venerable minister, and that 
of Mr. Mitchell were next almost 
wiped out, Little Aaron, a Mohawk 
chief, saving Mr. Dunlap and his 
daughter; 32 people, .nostly women 
and children, and 16 soldiers were 
killed. The whole settlement was 
plundered and burned. The prisoners 
numbered nearly 40, and included the 
wife and children of Col. Campbell, 
who was then absent. They were 
marched down the valley that night, 
in a storm of sleet, and were huddled 
together promiscuously, some of them 
half naked and without shelter. The 
enemy, finding the women and chil- 
dren cumbersome, sent them all back 
the next day, except Mrs. Campbell 
and her children and her aged mother 
and a Mrs. Moore, who were kept as 
hostages for the kind treatment and 
ultimate exchange for the Tory family 
of Col. John Butler. Young Butler was 
the head and front of all the cruelty 
at Cherry Valley that day. He com- 
manded the expedition and saw un- 
moved the murder of Mr. Wells, his 
father's friend, whom Brant hastened 
to save but arrived too late. Butler 
would not allow his rangers to even 
warn their friends in the settlement of 
approaching danger. 

While Brant was collecting his 
troops at Oghkwaga the previous 
year, 1777, the strong stone mansion of 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



69 



Samuel Campbell (colonel of the Can- 
ajoharie militia battalion) was forti- 
fied to be used as a place of retreat 
for the women and children in the 
event of attack. An embankment of 
earth and logs was thrown up around 
it, and included two barns. Small 
block-houses were erected within the 
enclosure. This was the only fort in 
Cherry Valley at this time. Mrs. Can- 
non, the mother of Mrs. Campbell, who 
was captured, was very old. On the 
retreat of the marauders, she was an 
encumbrance and a savage slew her 
with a tomahawk by the side of her 
daughter. Mrs. Campbell carried an 
eighteen-months old baby and was 
driven with inhuman haste before her 
captors, while they menaced her life 
with uplifted hatchets. Arriving 

among the Senecas, she was kindly 
treated and installed a member of one 
of the families. They allowed her to 
do as she pleased and her deportment 
was such that she seemed to engage 
the real affections of the people. Per- 
ceiving she wore caps, one was pre- 
sented to her, considerably spotted 
with blood, which she recognized as 
belonging to her friend, Jane Wells. 
She and her children, from whom she 
was separated in the Indian country, 
were afterward exchanged for the wife 
and family of Colonel John Butler, 
then in the custody of the Committee 
of Safety at Albany. There are many 
well-authenticated instances on rec- 
ord of the humanity of Brant, exer- 
cised particularly toward women and 
children. He was a magnanimous 
victor and never took the life of a for- 
mer friend or acquaintance. He loved 
a hero because of his heroism, al- 
though he might be his enemy, and 
was never known to take advantage 
of a conquered soldier. The challenge 
of Capt. McKean to Brant has been 
mentioned. After the Cherry Valley 
massacre, he inquired of one of the 
prisoners for Capt. McKean, who with 
his family, had left the settlement. 
Said Brant: "He sent me a chal- 
lenge. I came to accept it. He is a 
fine soldier thus to retreat." The cap- 
tured man replied: "Captain McKean 
would not turn his back upon an en- 



emy when there was any probability 
of success." Brant said: "I know it. 
He is a brave man and I would have 
given more to take him than any other 
man in Cherry Valley; but I would not 
have hurt a hair of his head." Walter 
Butler ordered a woman and child to 
be slain in bed at Cherry Valley, when 
Brant interposed saying, "What, kill 
a woman and child! That child it not 
an enemy to the King nor a friend to 
congress. Long before he will be big 
enough to do any mischief, the dispute 
will be settled." When in 1780, Sir 
John Johnson and Brant led their 
raiding army through the Schoharie 
and Mohawk valleys, Brant's human- 
ity was again displayed. On their 
way to Fort Hunter an infant was car- 
ried off. The frantic mother followed 
them as far as the fort but could get 
no tidings of her child. On the morn- 
ing after the departure of the invad- 
ers, and while Gen. Van Rensselaer's 
officers were at breakfast, a young In- 
dian came bounding into the room, 
bearing the infant in his arms and a 
letter from Captain Brant, addressed 
to "the commander of the rebel army." 
The letter was as follows: "Sir — I 
send you by one of my runners, the 
child which he will deliver, that you 
may know that, whatever others may 
do, I do not make war upon women and 
children. I am sorry to say that I 
have those engaged with me who are 
more savage than the savages them- 
selves." He named the Butlers and 
others of the Tory leaders. Brant 
hated the cowardly white Tory fiend, 
Butler, and objected strongly to serv- 
ing under him in the Cherry Valley 
expedition. The Wells family were 
close friends of Col. John Butler, 
father of Walter Butler, and the mur- 
der of this family by Butler's raiders 
was particularly brutal. Mr. Wells 
was tomahawked by a Tory while 
kneeling in prayer. Jane Wells, his 
sister, who was a beautiful and ac- 
complished woman, attempted to hide 
in a woodpile. An Indian caught her. 
He wiped his bloody scalping knife 
and sheathed it deliberately in view of 
the terrified woman. Then he leis- 
urely took his tomahawk from his gir- 



70 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



die and at this moment, a Tory, who 
had been a servant in the family, 
sprang forward and attempted to in- 
terfere but the savage thrust him 
aside and buried his hatchet in his 
victim's head. It is said that Colonel 
Butler, professedly grieved at the 
beastly murderous conduct of his son 
at Cherry Valley, remarked concerning 
the Wells family: "I would have gone 
miles on my knees to save that family, 
and why my son did not do it, God 
only knows." 



Late in the fall of 1778, at the re- 
quest of Sir John Johnson, the Ca- 
nadian Governor-General Haldimand, 
sent fifty men to recover his and his 
father's papers which had been buried 
in an iron chest on the premises at 
Johnson Hall. They recovered the 
papers which were found to be prac- 
tically worthless from dampness. A 
Tory, named Helmer, was captured. 



The Saratoga and Oriskany cam- 
paigns have been summarized in the 
Oriskany chapter. The national events 
from the fall of 1777 through 1778 are 
summarized as follows: 1777, Oct. 4, 
American defeat at Germantown; 
winter 1777-8, American army in win- 
ter quarters at Valley Forge, Pa.; 
1778, February, French recognize Am- 
erican independence and become allies 
of the colonies; 1778, June, British 
evacuate Philadelphia and indecisive 
battle of Monmouth follows; 1778, 
July, Wyoming, Pa., massacre of set- 
tlers by British and Indians under Col. 
Butler; 1778, Dec, Savannah, Ga., cap- 
tured by British. 



CHAPTER XV. 
1779 — Gen. Clinton at Canajoharie — 
Road Built to Otsego Lake — Guard 
on Otsquago Creek — Sullivan and 
Clinton Defeat Johnson and Brant. 
To chastise the hostile Iroquois, Col. 
Van Schaick was sent from Fort 
Schuyler to make a descent on the 
Onondagas on April 18, 1779. The In- 
dians fled and their three villages were 
burned. The Onondagas retaliated by 
a descent into the Schoharie valley 
where ten militiamen were killed. 



In the spring of 1779 it was resolved 
to send a large American expedition 
into the Indian country to severely 
chastise the savages so as to discour- 
age them from renewing their rav- 
ages. Gen. Sullivan was placed in 
chief command of the expedition, the 
plan of which was a combined move- 
ment in two divisions; one, from 
Pennsylvania under Sullivan, to ascend 
the Susquehanna, and the other from 
the north through the Mohawk valley 
to Otsego lake and the headwaters of 
the Susquehanna, under Gen. James 
Clinton. The campaign had been 
carefully worked out by Washington 
and experienced men called in coun- 
cil. Gen. Clinton's forces assembled 
at Schenectady and his supplies and 
military stores were' sent up the Mo- 
hawk on batteaux to Canajoharie. 
These same boats were later trans- 
ported to Otsego lake and vised on his 
trip down the Susquehanna. 

Clinton had a force of 1600 men and 
made his Mohawk rendezvous in the 
present village of Canajoharie, which 
must then have been a scene of great 
activity as well as the river upon 
which ordnance and supplies were 
brought in bateaux. In Canajoharie 
Clinton boarded with Johannes Roof, 
a pioneer settler of land at Fort Stan- 
wix, which he abandoned on the ap- 
proach of St. Leger and came to Cana- 
joharie, there opening a tavern. 

While Clinton was preparing for his 
overland journey at Canajoharie, the 
Otsquago road to Otsego lake from 
Fort Plain was guarded by two com- 
panies of infantry and one of artillery, 
with Fort Plain as their base. 

John Fea, in his article on the "In- 
dian Trails of the Mohawk Valley," 
says: "Upon the return of the Onon- 
daga expedition, Clinton deployed two 
companies of infantry and one of ar- 
tillery on the Otsquago road, west of 
Fort Plain. One of the companies was 
stationed at Camp Creek, near the 
present village of Starkville, at the 
confluence of the creek and the Ots- 
quago. From this place the Indian 
trail from the Mohawk to Wa-ont-ha 
went southwestward. Lieutenant Van 
Home, of Colonel Fisher's regiment, 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



71 



was in charge of the work of defense 
at this point, as it was expected that 
Brant would make a sortie from the 
west by the way of this trail, to harass 
the movement of Clinton's wagon 
train. During the stay at Camp Creek 
a corduroy road was made along the 
Otsciuago creek on ground where the 
present village of Van Hornesville is 
located. The old roadway to Spring- 
field at that time, went over the steep 
incline east of Van Hornesville. 
Clinton's troops made a new road over 
the 'pumpkin hook' district of about 
two miles in length to accommodate 
the carriage of his artillery. At the 
same time he was hewing a roadway 
through an unbroken forest from See- 
ber's Lane, southwest of Canajoharie 
creek, to the head of Otsego lake, a 
distance of about twenty miles. Over 
this road they transported 220 heavy 
batteaux and provisions for three 
months. June 17, 1779, he commenced 
the arduous task. He reached Spring- 
field with all his luggage, June 30. At 
this place Clinton was joined by the 
troops that had been deployed at Ots- 
quago." Eight horse wagons and ox- 
carts are said to have been used on 
this hard overland carry. 

Clinton's united force soon reached 
the head of Otsego lake where thoy 
launched their bateaux and flo-Ated 
nine miles down its placid waters 
to its outlet at Cooperstown. Tt 
is said that there was not then a 
single house standing at that site. 
The passage down the lake was made 
on a lovely summer's day, and every-' 
thing connected with it was so novel 
and picturesque that the scene was 
truly enchanting. On arriving at the 
foot of the lake, the troops landed and 
remained several weeks, until it was 
sufficiently raised by a dam construct- 
ed at the outlet, to float the fleet of 
208 boats. When a sufficient head of 
water was thus obtained the boats 
were properly arranged along the out- 
let and filled with troops, stores and 
cannon. Then the dam was torn 
away and the flotilla passed down into 
the Susquehanna (a word signifying 
in Indian "crooked river"). It is said 
that, preparatory to opening the out- 



let of the lake, a dam made by beav- 
ers, on one of the large inlets, was or- 
dered destroyed. This was done but 
it was repaired by the little animals 
the next night. It had to be more 
thoroughly destroyed and a guard 
placed there all night to prevent its 
being rebuilt. While the army was 
quartered there two deserters were 
tried and one shot. The younger, a 
boy, was pardoned but the other, who 
had previously deserted from the Brit- 
ish to the Americans and then desert- 
ed them, was shot. Said Clinton: "He 
is neither good for king or country — 
let him be shot." The flood from the 
opening of Clinton's dam destroyed the 
Indian's cornfields along the river 
banks, who, being ignorant of the 
cause of their loss, were astonished 
and alarmed. 

Gen. Clinton's force formed a junc- 
ture with Sullivan's at Tioga on Aug. 
22, and the united force moved up the 
Tioga and Chemung, destroying the 
Indians' growing crops. The force of 
4600 Americans met the Tories and 
Indians under Johnson and Brant near 
the present city of Elmira on Aug. 29. 
A fierce battle ensued and was for 
long doubtful. The patriots' artillery 
under Proctor finally routed the 
enemy. The invaders rested that night 
and next day made a vigorous pursuit. 
The entire Indian country was rav- 
aged and destroyed in a most thor- 
ough fashion. In revenge the savages 
retaliated upon the frontier settle- 
ments whenever opportunity offered. 



While Clinton was waiting at Cana- 
joharie for his troops and supplies to 
asseinble, and also for the construc- 
tion and delivery of bateaux, two 
Tories were there hung and a deserter 
shot. The Tory spies were Lieut, 
Henry Hare and Sergt. Newbery, both 
of Col. Butler's regiment. They were 
tried by a general court martial as 
spies and sentenced to be hanged, 
"which was done accordingly at Cana- 
joharie, to the great satisfaction of all 
the inhabitants of that place who were 
friends of their country, as they were 
known to be very active in almost all 
the murders that were committed on 



72 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the frontiers. They were inhabitants 
of Tryon county, had each a wife and 
several children, who came to see them 
and beg their lives." The foregoing 
quoted words are those of Gen. Clin- 
ton himself in a letter to his wife. At 
the time of the execution, Gen. Clinton 
rode up to Fort Plain and spent an 
hour or two with Dominie Gros, to 
avoid the importunity of the spies' 
friends who begged for their lives, and 
especially was this the case with Mrs. 
Hare. Hare and Newbury had left the 
Seneca country with 63 Indians and 2 
white men, who divided them into 
three parties. One was to attack 
Schoharie, another party was to de- 
scend on Cherry Valley and the Mo- 
hawk river and the third party was to 
skulk about Fort Schuyler and the 
upper part of the Mohawk to take pris- 
oners or scalps. Both had lived in the 
town of Glen and were captured there. 
A fifteen-year-old boy, named Francis 
Putman, captured Hare, who was de- 
layed in his return to Canada by a 
sprained ankle. A party of Whigs 
under Lieut. Newkirk arrested New- 
bury that night. It is said "they were 
enabled to find his house in the woods 
by following a tame deer which fled to 
it." The executions in Canajoharie 
took place on Academy hill. While 
Hare was in custody, at the request of 
Gen. Clinton, Johannes Roof asked the 
Tory if he did not kill Caty Steers at 
Fort Stanwix in 1777. "For you were 
seen with your hands in her hair," said 
Roof. Hare confessed that he had 
killed and scalped her. 



Gen. James Clinton was born in Ul- 
ster county, New York, August 9, 1736. 
At the age of 20 (1756), he was a cap- 
tain under Bradstreet in the attack 
on Fort Frontenac. In 1763 he com- 
manded four companies in Ulster and 
Orange as protection against Indians. 
He, with his brother, George Clinton 
(governor of New York during the 
Revolution), early espoused the pa- 
triot cause. He was a colonel in 1775 
and went with Montgomery to Can- 
ada. In 1776 he was a brigadier gen- 
eral and was in command, under Gov. 
Clinton, at Forts Montgomery and 



Clinton when they fell into the hands 
of the enemy in 1777. He escaped and 
conjointly with Sullivan led the ex- 
pedition against the Indians in 1779. 
During the remainder of the war he 
was connected with the Northern De- 
partment of the Army, having head- 
quarters at Albany. He retired to his 
estate at Newburgh, after peace was 
declared, and died there in 1812, aged 
75. He was the father of Dewitt 
Clinton, the eminent governor of New 
York and "father of the Canal system." 



The state legislature on Oct. 23, 
1779, levied a tax of $2,500,000, of 
which Tryon county's quota was $81,- 
766. The quota of the Canajoharie 
district was $16,728. April 6, 1780, an- 
other state tax of $5,000,000 was au- 
thorized of which $120,000 was as- 
signed to Tryon. The quota of the 
Canajoharie district was $28,000. Pay- 
ment of these two taxes, levied inside 
of six months, must have been a con- 
siderable hardship to the valley set- 
tlers at this time. 

Colonel Visscher was in command at 
Fort Paris in Stone Arabia in Novem- 
ber, 1779, having command of this sec- 
tion. While Visscher was on a visit to 
Fort Plank, a detachment of soldiers, 
from Col. Stephen J. Schuyler's regi- 
ment, located at Fort Paris, mutinied, 
knocked down the guards and started 
to desert. One of them was shot down 
and presumably the rest escaped. 
Capt. Jelles Fonda, in temporary com- 
mand there, was courtmartialed and 
honorably acquitted. In December, at 
a conference. Colonels Visscher and 
Klock and Lieut. Col. Wagner dis- 
persed a number of three months mi- 
litia men, on account of the lateness of 
the season and the improbability of 
immediate invasions. This was done 
with the sanction of Gen. Ten Broeck 
and some of the garrisons were broken 
up for a time. 



July 9, 1779, three Vols (now Folts) 
brothers and the wives of two of them, 
and a Mrs. Catherine Dorenberger, 
who had been a Hilts, went berry- 
picking up the West Canada creek, 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



73 



near Fort Dayton. A party of a dozen 
Indians and Tories discovered them. 
Two of the brothers and their wives 
escaped to the fort, although one of 
the women was wounded. Mrs. Dor- 
enberger was overtaken and stabbed 
to death with a spear by her own 
brother, named Hilts, who was one of 
the guerilla party. He also tore off 
the scalp from her dead body. Joseph 
Vols was separated from the rest, but 
leveled his gun and fired at a party of 
nine who were pursuing him in a nar- 
row path. He was so close that three 
Indians fell, two killed instantly and 
one mortally wounded. His gun was 
loaded with 21 buckshot. This is said 
to have been the best shot fired in 
Tryon county during the war. One 
Indian, in the race which followed, got 
up and wounded Vols with his toma- 
hawk, but the Whig knocked his as- 
sailant down, stunned him with a blow 
of his gun and escaped, although 
wounded by several shots. Troops, 
hearing the firing, came up and the 
white and red savages fled. Conrad 
Vols, one of the brothers, was wound- 
ed at Oriskany two years before. 



The national events of 1779 are here- 
with summarized: 1778-9, Col. Clarke 
conquers middle west from English by 
victories at Kaskaskia and Vincennes; 
1779, July 15, Americans under Gen. 
"Mad Anthony" Wayne capture Stony 
Point on the Hudson; 1779, Aug. 29, 
Sullivan's and Clinton's patriot army 
defeat Indian and British force in bat- 
tle of Chemung (at Elmira), Indian 
country subsequently devastated; 1779, 
September, Paul Jones, on American 
ship, Bon Homme Richard, defeats two 
British men-of-war; 1779, October, 
French and American attack on Sa- 
vannah repulsed. 



The lot of the soldier was not all one 
of warfare. In the midst of ever-pres- 
ent dangers, he took his holiday and 
his natural and robust pleasures with 
a carefree heart. An instance from 
Simms details a merrymaking of Rev- 
olutionary times: "In the fall of 1779, 



there was a corn-husking at the resi- 
dence of John Eikler in Philadelphia 
Bush. His house was some six miles 
east of Johnstown, and where John 
Frank formerly kept a tavern. Capt. 
John Littel permitted ten or a dozen 
young men of his company to go from 
the Johnstown fort to the husking, of 
which number was my [Simms's] in- 
formant, Jacob Shew. They went on 
foot from the fort to Eikler's. A lot 
of buxom maidens, corresponding in 
number, were already assembled from 
the scattered settlement on their ar- 
rival. As the night was a rainy one 
the corn was taken into the house to 
husk. 

"In the protracted struggle for po- 
litical freedom, many a lovely girl had 
to toil in the field to raise sustenance 
for herself and feebler friends, when 
the strong arms, on which they had 
before leaned, were wielding the sword 
or musket far away. As the husking 
progressed not a few red ears were 
found, imposing a penalty on the 
finder, and lucky indeed was the Son 
of Mars who canceled such forfeit, as 
he was brought in contact with the 
cherry lips of a blushing lass, who, al- 
though she may have said aloud the 
young rebel ought to be ashamed, se- 
cretly blessed the inventor of husk- 
ings. A part of the corn was risked 
and hung up under the roof on a lin- 
tel, which, to add variety to the enter- 
tainment, broke down under its ac- 
cumulated weight, and came near en- 
trapping one of the guests. After the 
corn was all husked and the eatables 
and drinkables — pumpkin pies and 
cider — were disposed of, the party had 
glorious times. But why specify at 
this late day the details of ancient 
sayings and doings? Suffice it to add, 
the rain came down in torrents, so as 
to prevent the guests from returning 
home; and after the midnight hilarity 
had stolen out through the crannies of 
the log dwelling, the guests — but how 
dispose of so many without beds? The 
husks were leveled down, and each 
took a soldier's lodge upon them; for 
the girls — heaven bless their memory 
— were the artless and true maidens 
of the times." 



74 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



CHAPTER XVI. 

1780 — May 21, Johnson's Johnstown 
Raid — August 2, Brant's Minden 
Raid. 

After Sullivan's campaign the val- 
ley had comparative repose for a time. 
So far the lower Mohawk section 
had suffered little. Its men had gone 
forth to fight for the common defense 
and their numbers had been reduced 
by death and capture. They had re- 
ceived an influx of population from 
the defenseless people driven in from 
above, which, however, was no added 
protection. 

May 21, 1780, Sir John Johnson en- 
tered Johnstown near midnight at the 
head of 500 Indians, Tories and Brit- 
ish. He had crossed the country from 
Crown Point to the Sacandaga, a point 
from which an invasion was least ex- 
pected, and stolen upon the settlement 
so quietly that the patriots were first 
warned of the enemy's presence by the 
beginning of the work of murder and 
destruction in their midst. The resi- 
dent Tories, being in the secret and 
assisting the raiders, were exempt 
from injury. Johnson separated his 
men into two parties, one going 
through Johnstown and down the 
Cayadutta to the Mohawk, there to 
join the other division, which was to 
take a more easterly route to Tribes 
Hill. They were then to unite and rav- 
age up the valley. The whole course of 
Sir John's eastern raiders was mur- 
derous and disgraceful. They mur- 
dered and scalped a Mr. Lodwick Put- 
man and son, dragged Putman's son- 
in-law, Amasa Stevens, out of his 
house and killed him in the most bru- 
tal manner and then went on to the 
house of Gerret Putman, a stanch 
Whig, who had been marked as a vic- 
tim but who had removed lately and 
rented his house to two Tory English- 
men. Ignorant of this the Tories and 
Indians broke into the house and mur- 
dered and scalped the two inmates be- 
fore they had a chance to explain their 
situation. Henrj' Hansen was next 
murdered and his sons carried off pris- 
oners. They next came to the house 
of Col. Visscher, whom Simms says 



was a brave man in spite of the un- 
fortunate panic retreat of his force at 
Oriskany. His two brothers were with 
him and they made a brave stand, 
fighting valiantly up the stairway and 
into their chamber, where they were 
stricken down and scalped and the 
house set on fire. Visscher was toma- 
hawked, scalped and left for dead, but 
revived and lived many years. The 
western division led by Sir John him- 
self, went through Johnstown undis- 
covered by the Whig garrison of the 
fort which had formerly been the jail. 
This force captured Sampson Sam- 
mons and his three sons and, uniting 
with the eastern force, proceeded up 
the valley, burning every building not 
belonging to a Tory. The alarm, how- 
ever, was getting abroad and the peo- 
ple had some chance to escape to the 
neighboring forts. Returning after a 
few miles foray to Caughnawaga they 
burned every building but the church 
and parsonage. Here in the morning 
an old man named Douw Fonda had 
been murdered. He was one of nine 
aged men, four over eighty, who were 
brutally killed and scalped on this 
raid. Sir John returned to Johnstown 
and recovered his buried plate and 
valuables and about twenty slaves. 
The plate and valuables filled two bar- 
rels. Toward night the militia began 
to gather under Col. John Harper and 
Johnson decided to get away, heading 
for the Sacandaga. The militia were 
in too small numbers to attack him 
but followed him several miles. Col. 
Van Schaick came up with 800 men 
in pursuit but too late to engage the 
guerillas. 

While halting, on the day after leav- 
ing Johnstown, the elder Mr. Sammons 
(Sampson Sammons) requested a per- 
sonal interview with Sir John John- 
son, which was granted. He asked to 
be released, but the baronet hestitated. 
The old man then recurred to former 
times, when he and Sir John were 
friends and neighbors. Said he: "See 
what you have done, Sir John. You 
have taken myself and my sons pris- 
oners, burned my dwelling to ashes, 
and left my family with no covering 
but the heavens above, and no pros- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



75 



pect but desolation around them. Did 
we treat you in this manner when you 
were in the power of the Tryon Coun- 
ty Committee? Do you remember when 
we were consulted by General Schuy- 
ler, and you agreed to surrender your 
arms? Do you then remember that 
you then agreed to remain neutral, 
and that, upon that condition, General 
Schuyler left you at liberty on your 
parole? Those conditions you violat- 
ed. You went off to Canada, enrolled 
yourself in the service of the king, 
raised a regiment of the disaffected 
who abandoned their country with 
you, and you have now returned to 
wage a cruel war against us, by burn- 
ing our dwellings and robbing us of 
our property. I was your friend in 
the Committee of Safety, and exerted 
myself to save your person from in- 
jury. And how am I requited? Your 
Indians have murdered and scalped old 
Mr. Fonda, at the age of eighty years, 
a man who, I have heard your father 
say, was like a father to him when he 
settled in Johnstown and Kingsbor- 
ough. You cannot succeed, Sir John, 
in such a warfare, and you will never 
enjoy your property more." The baro- 
net made no reply but the old gentle- 
man was set at liberty. 



Soon after this murderous raid of 
Sir John Johnson, Gen. Clinton or- 
dered Col. Gansevoort to repair with 
his regiment to Fort Plain, to take 
charge of a large quantity of stores 
destined for Fort Schuyler and con- 
voy the batteaux containing them to 
their destination. This caution was 
necessary to save the supplies from 
capture by the Indians. Most of the 
local militia accompanied Gansevoort's 
command. 

Brant was again on the warpath, 
watching for a favorable moment to 
spring upon the unprotected inhabi- 
tants, and supplied the Tories with in- 
formation of movements in the settle- 
ments. He was early aware of the de- 
parture of troops for Fort Schuyler 
and, when they had gathered at Fort 
Plain and started on their march of 
protection for the supplies going by 
river, on August 2, 1780, made a de- 



scent on the Canajoharie district with 
a force of about 500 Indians and Tories, 
chiefly the former. There were sev- 
eral stockades in the neighborhoods 
desolated by the savages (for the 
Tories seem to have equaled the red 
men in their barbarity). Chief among 
them, however, was the principal for- 
tification of Fort Plain. Here the gar- 
rison was insufficient, without help 
from the militia, to give battle to 
Brant's force and, as has been stated, 
the local troops were absent with 
Gansevoort's force. Brant evidently 
approached the Mohawk from the west 
by way of the Otsquago valley and his 
raiders in bands thoroughly devasted 
the Freysbush and Dutchtown roads. 
The approach of the Indians was 
announced by a woman firing the sig- 
nal shot from a Fort Plain cannon. 
The people were then busy with their 
harvesting, and all who were fortunate 
enough to escape fled to the fort, leav- 
ing their property to be destroyed. 
The firing of one signal shot indicated 
that the people were to flee to the 
nearest stockade, while two or three 
in quick succession ordered the set- 
tlers to seek safety by hiding in the 
bush or woods and told that the enemy 
was between them and the fort. Fifty- 
three dwellings were burned with their 
barns and buildings, 16 people were 
murdered and 50 or 60 captured. The 
Indians, knowing its weakness, rush- 
ed up within gunshot of Fort Plain, 
after ravaging the Dutchtown and 
Freysbush districts. Seeber's, Abeel's 
and other houses were burned and 
then the savages fired the Reformed 
Dutch church. The spire was adorned 
with a brass ball and the Indians, be- 
lieving it to be gold, watched eagerly 
for it to fall. When at last it dropped, 
with the burning of the spire, they all 
sprang forward to seize the prize. 
This red hot ball of brass was respon- 
sible for many a blistered red man's 
hand. To make a show of force at 
Fort Plain, some of the women who 
had fled there, put on men's hats and 
carried poles, showing themselves just 
sufficiently above the stockade to give 
the savages the impression of militia- 
men. This ruse was evidently success- 



76 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



ful for, had Brant known how feebly 
the fort was defended he would prob- 
ably have rushed this stockade, burn- 
ed it and massacred its inmates. 

The columns of smoke rising from 
the burning buildings were seen at 
Johnstown and were the first intima- 
tion of this latest incursion. The far- 
mers left their harvest fields and 
joined Col. Wemple, marching up the 
river with the Schenectady and Al- 
bany militia, but they were not in 
time to check the work of destruction 
or cut off the retreat of the maraud- 
ers. Colonel Wemple, who was 
thought to be more prudent than val- 
orous on this occasion, only reached 
the desolated region in time to see the 
smoking ruins and rest securely in 
Fort Plain that night. The next morn- 
ing some buildings, which had escaped 
the torch the day before were discov- 
ered to be on fire. Col. Wemple, on 
being notified of the fact, said that, if 
any volunteers were disposed to look 
into the matter, they might do so. 
Whereupon Major Bantlin, with some 
of the Tryon county militia, set out 
for the scene of the fire. It proved to 
have been set by a party of Brant's 
raiders who, as soon as discovered, 
fled to rejoin the main body. In a day 
one of the fairest portions of the val- 
ley had been desolated. The small 
forts which were demolished were not 
garrisoned and had been constructed 
by the people themselves. The inhabi- 
tants of the desolated region had pro- 
tested against helping the government 
to keep open communication with 
Port Schuyler, when there was con- 
stant need for the protection of their 
own district. The withdrawal of its 
militia and the consequent terrible 
result justified their worst apprehen- 
sions. 

This raid which culminated around 
Fort Plain was one of the most de- 
structive made during the war. Brant 
had with him Cornplanter and other 
distinguished chiefs. Col. Samuel 
Clyde sent Gov. George Clinton an ac- 
count of this affair, evidently written 
from Fort Plain, as follows: 

Canajoharie, Aug. 6. 1780. 

Sir — I here send you an account of 
the fate of our district: 



On the 2d day of this inst. Joseph 
Brant, at the head of four or five hun- 
dred Indians and Tories, broke in upon 
the settlements, and laid the best part 
of the district in ashes, and killed 16 
of the inhabitants that we have found, 
took between 50 and 60 prisoners — 
mostly women and children — 12 of 
whom they sent back. They have 
killed or drove away with them, up- 
wards of 300 head of cattle and horses; 
have burned 53 dweMing hou.?es, be- 
sides some outhouses, and as many 
barns; one very elegant church, and 
one grist mill, and two small forts that 
the women fled out of. They have 
burned all the inhabitants' w-eapons 
and implements for husbandry, so that 
they are left in a miserable condition. 
They have nothing left to support 
themselves but what grain they have 
growing, and that they cannot get 
saved for want of tools to work with 
and very few to be got here. 

This affair happened at a very un- 
fortunate hour, when all the militia of 
the county were called up to Fort 
Schuyler — Stanwix — to guard nine bat- 
teaux — half laden. It was said the 
enemy intended to take them on their 
passage to Fort Schuyler. There was 
scarce a man left that was able to go. 
It seems that everything conspired for 
our destruction in this quarter; one 
whole district almost destroyed and 
the best regiment of militia in the 
county rendered unable to help them- 
selves or the public. This I refer you 
to Gen. Rensselaer for the truth of. 

Brant, with subtle savagery, had 
thrown out a hint that he intended to 
take or destroy the supply flotilla on 
its way up the river. It was during 
this invasion that the Indians took the 
trader John Abeel, living at Fort 
Plain, and he was afterward liberated 
and sent back to his ruined home by 
his son Cornplanter, the Seneca chief- 
tain. Parties of Indians at this time 
also made minor raids around Fort 
Herkimer and Fort Dayton, in the 
Schoharie valley and other sections. 



Gyantwachia or Cornplanter, the 
Seneca chief, was associated with 
Brant in this Minden raid. He was a 
son of John Abeel, the Indian trader 
of Fort Plain, and the daughter of a 
Seneca chief. Although a half breed 
he was the leading man of his nation 
for a period of almost sixty years. 

At the close of the Revolution, he 
was not only ready to bury the hatchet 
but to take sides in all future troubles 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



77 



with the Americans. He became the 
firm friend of Washington and was 
perhaps the only Indian war chief, in 
our borders, whose friendship for tlie 
.United States was unshaken in tlie In- 
dian difficulties existing from 1791 to 
1794. In 1797 Cornplanter paid a visit 
to Washington at Philadelphia. He 
fixed his permanent residence on the 
Alleghany river in Pennsylvania, where 
he subsequently lived and died and 
where his descendants still reside. In 
1802 Cornplanter paid a visit to Presi- 
dent Jefferson. In the war of 1812 with 
England, the Seneca chief, then al- 
most 70 years old, offered to lead 200 
warriors with the American troops 
against the English. He was not al- 
lowed to do so but some of his nation 
were with the Americans in the war 
and rendered efficient service as 
scouts. His son, George Abeel, held a 
major's commission and led these red 
American soldiers. Cornplanter was 
about five feet, ten inches in height 
and a chief of fine bearing. He is said 
to have been a fine orator in the In- 
dian way and, to further the interests 
of his people, made effective speeches 
before Washington and before the gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania. The latter 
state gave him, in 1789, 1,300 acres of 
land and the national government paid 
him $250 yearly, in appreciation of his 
services rendered the country by keep- 
ing his own people in friendship with 
the United States. In 1S66 the legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania erected a mon- 
ument to Cornplanter at Jennesadaga, 
his village in Warren county in that 
state, and also published a pamphlet 
regarding his life and works. The 
inscription on the monument reads: 

"Giantwahia, the Cornplanter. 

"John O'Bail [Abeel], alias Corn- 
planter, died at Cornplanter town, 
February 18, 1836, aged about 100 
years. 

"Chief of the Seneca tribe, and prin- 
cipal chief of the Six Nations from the 
period of the Revolutionary war to the 
time of his death. Distinguished for 
talents, courage, eloquence sobriety, 
and love of his tribe and race, to whose 
welfare he devoted his time, his ener- 



gies and his means during a long and 
eventful life." 

Simms says the age given on this 
monument is wrong and that Corn- 
planter was born about 1746 and was 
about 90 years old at the time of his 
death. His visit to Fort Plain in 1810 
is treated of in a later chapter. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

1780, August 2 — Incidents and Trage- 
dies and Details of Brant's Minden 
Raid. 

The Canajoharie district raid of Au- 
gust 2, 1780, by Indians and Tories 
under Brant, was made from the direc- 
tion of the Susqehanna valley through 
the Otsquago valley and thoroughly 
ravaged the Dutchtown and Preystaush 
districts, culminating about Fort 
Plain. For that period, the portion of 
the Canajoharie district comprised in 
the town of Minden was thickly 
settled and the people fled to and 
crowded the forts which were so fee- 
bly defended on account of the with- 
drawal of the militia to convoy stores 
to Fort Schuyler. The maintenance of 
this latter exposed post, and the con- 
sequent splitting up of the defensive 
strength of Tryon county among so 
many forts, was doubtless the reason 
that so many terrible raids of the 
enemy devastated the valley, the hos- 
tile force escaping before the scat- 
tered garrisons and militia could unite 
for common defense. 

In the Minden raid the raiders broke 
up into small bands, the more thor- 
oughly to murder loot and burn. From 
Simms's account, it appears that 
the enemy remained in this section 
during August 2 and that night and 
the next day dispersed in small par- 
ties, probably toward the Susqehanna 
for the most part. This was done to 
evade pursuit by the militia then 
marching to Fort Plain and shows 
how difficult is was for the patriot 
Tryon county military authorities to 
check these forays and brings into 
prominence Willett's effective work in 
the following year, at the time of the 
two raids which ended in the American 



78 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



victories of Sharon Springs and Johns- 
town. 

The Minden raid, in point of loss of 
life, prisoners taken and property de- 
stroyed takes rank as the most de- 
structive which took place along the 
Mohawk during the Revolution. At 
German Flats, in September, 1778, 116 
houses and barns were burned, but 
there was no loss of life with the ex- 
ception of three rangers who were 
killed while scouting for Brant's force. 
It was due to the long heroic run of 
the noted scout Helmer to German 
Flats and his warning to the farmers 
that there was no further casualties. 
About the same number of barns and 
dwellings were burned in the Minden 
raid of 1780, but in addition 16 people 
were killed and 60 captured. The loss 
of stock and implements was a most 
serious one as it prevented the har- 
vesting of crops and the Canajoharie 
district was one of the most fertile 
sections of the valley and was de- 
pended upon frequently for bread and 
foodstuffs by neighboring communi- 
ties. Its defense of four forts had pre- 
viously prevented its sacking, but its 
forts were useless without sufficient 
men and these were absent on the 
march to Fort Stanwix to convoy a 
comparatively trifling amount of 
stores. 

In this chapter are narrated some of 
the personal experiences, tragedies 
and details of this hostile foray in 
Minden township. They show, as 
nothing else can, what these raids 
meant to the suffering valley people, 
just as the experiences of the patriot 
fighters at Oriskany display the hor- 
rors of Revolutionary warfare along 
the old New York frontier. They also 
give further information about the 
families about Fort Plain at that time 
and furnish some insight into the farm 
life of the period. They are summar- 
ized or copied from Simms's "Fron- 
tiersmen of New York." 

John Rother, at this time, owned a 
grist mill and had a farm in the Gels- 
enberg neighborhood. Daniel Olen- 
dorf was his miller. Rother owned a 
big dog which barked and gave warn- 
ing of the approaching Indians, on Au- 



gust 2. Rother seized his gun and ran 
for Fort Plank, more than a mile away, 
followed by his niece. His wife hid 
in a flax field. As the Indians ap- 
proached the house the dog set upon 
them furiously and they stopped to 
shoot him, the reports arousing sev- 
eral settlers and warning them of dan- 
ger. The savages plundered and burn- 
ed the dwellings, the first they fired in 
that neighborhood. Rother and his 
niece were chased by one Indian. Not 
being able to keep up with her uncle, 
the girl kept falling behind and the 
Indian gaining. The panic-stricken 
girl shouted "Uncle, the Indian." 
Rother stopped and pointed his gun at 
the Indian who would stop or fall 
back. This was repeated a dozen 
times until the two fugitives reached 
the fort. Rother was afraid to fire for 
had he missed, both would have been 
tomahawked and scalped. His wife 
was not discovered by the savages and 
also escaped. 

Joseph Myers lived four miles south- 
west of Fort Plain. On the day of the 
raid, he had gone to Fort Plank to 
make cartridges, leaving his wife and 
three children, aged three, five and 
seven years, at home. Evan, the only 
girl, was five. Myers had lost a limb 
and wore a wooden leg. The family 
lived a mile from the Rothers, before 
mentioned, and Mrs. Rother was 
known as the "Doctress," as she dis- 
pensed home-made German herb rem- 
edies. Mrs. Myers sent the two oldest 
children to get some salve for the 
youngest child's head. The oldest 
brother said he would carry the 
youngest on his back to the Rothers, 
let the "Doctress" apply the salve, and 
then carry him back. Evan was al- 
lowed to accompany them. When 
nearly half-way they heard a gun 
fired and seeing Indians around Roth- 
er's house, started to run home. The 
savages saw them and several chased 
them, one of them pinning the two lit- 
tle boys to the ground with a bayo- 
net as they were running pick-a-back. 
Evan later thought she was not scalp- 
ed as she did not cry. She was picked 
up in the arms of an Indian and the 
savages went to the Myers. Mrs. My- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



79 



ers, hearing the gun shot at Rother's, 
hid and saved her life. The buildings 
were plundered and burned. Evan 
was taken to Canada with other pris- 
oners and, on account of her tender 
age, was borne on the back of an In- 
dian most of the long, tiresome jour- 
ney. On their arrival at the Indian 
village an Indian took the girl in his 
arms and whipped her. The little 
flve-year-old was then put on a horse 
led by an Indian, to run the gauntlet. 
She was knocked off by blows several 
times and put on again and was con- 
siderably hurt but did rot dare cry. 
She was then given an Indian dress 
and her cheeks painted. She quickly 
forgot her German tongue during her 
life with the Indians, who found such 
a small white child so much trouble 
that they finally delivered her at Mon- 
treal for a bounty. Here she soon 
forgot her Indian and learned to speak 
English. She was long in Canada be- 
fore it was learned whose child she 
was as she had forgotten her own 
name. Peter Olendorf, who was cap- 
tured in the same raid, readily guessed 
her parentage when she said her 
father had a wooden leg and lived not 
far from a fort. Mrs. Bartlett Pick- 
ard, with a nursing child, was cap- 
tured in the vicinity of Myers, and 
later liberated by Brant and sent 
home. In order to take her home, Mrs. 
Pickard claimed Evan was her child 
but the Indians were not fooled and 
the pretence was of no use. Mrs. 
Pickard arrived at Fort Plain, three 
days after her capture, almost fa- 
mished and then Mrs. Myers first 
learned the fate of her daughter. Mrs. 
Pletts, made a prisoner on the same 
day in Freysbush, brought Evan back 
with her, on her liberation from Can- 
ada, taking a motherly care of her for 
which, it is unnecessary to say, her 
parents were ever after grateful. 

David Olendorf was at work with 
his wife in his barn. He was pitching 
wheat from his wagon and his wife 
was mowing it away, a duty that often 
devolved on women during the war. 
When he, before the muzzle of a gun, 
was ordered down from the wagon, she 
was not in sight and, upon being 



asked, Olendorf said there was no one 
else there. A suspicious savage said, 
"If any one else is in the barn call 
them out as we are going to burn it." 
True to their word they did burn it 
and, after it was set on fire, the wo- 
man was called down from the loft. 
The savages also burned and plun- 
dered the house. With other prison- 
ers, the Olendorfs were started on the 
long journey to Canada, suffering se- 
vere privations on the way. Soon after 
their journey started the Indians ask- 
ed Olendorf if he could run pretty 
well and he said "Yes." Thereupon 
they told him, if he could beat their 
best Indian runner, he would be set at 
liberty and this contest the white man 
easily won. He soon found out why 
his fleetness of foot had been thus 
tested, for he was securely bound 
every night during the rest of the 
journey. During the dreary march he 
incurred the displeasure of an Indian, 
who threw his tomahawk at Olendorf, 
the blade sticking in a tree behind 
which the white man sprang. An old 
savage saved his life. On reaching 
Canada Olendorf and his wife were 
separated and he was imprisoned. He 
then decided to enlist in the British 
service and desert to his countrymen 
at the earliest opportunity. While on 
his way to the New York frontier set- 
tlements, with a raiding party under 
Sir John Johnson, two prisoners were 
brought in. Olendorf, who was then 
a sergeant, overheard the men talk in 
German and he proposed to them for 
all three to escape. It became his of- 
ficial duty to post sentinels that night 
which favored his design and after 
stationing the most distant one he 
took occasion on his return to lop sev- 
eral twigs that he might pass the 
outer watchman unobserved. Secur- 
ing provisions, he conducted the two 
men outside the camp at midnight. 
Observing great caution, part of the 
time crawling on their hands and 
knees, the three found the broken 
boughs and passed all the sentinels in 
safety. "Now if you know the way to 
the settlements, lead on for we have 
not a moment to lose," said Olendorf. 
One of the captives became pilot and 



80 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



in a few days the trio reached Fort 
Plain in safety, where they were joy- 
ously received by their friends, whom 
they forewarned of the enemy's ap- 
proach. 

Mrs. Olendorf, then with child, fear- 
ed longer to remain in an Indian fam- 
ily to which she had been taken and, 
watching her opportunity when the 
family were all drunk, to which condi- 
tion she had contributed as far as 
possible by freely passing the liquor, 
she fled for refuge to the residence of 
an English officer for protection. The 
family were at first afraid to conceal 
her, fearing the revenge of the sav- 
ages. Her condition excited their pity 
and they concealed her in a closet, 
where the Indians failed to find her on 
their search. On the birth of her little 
son, two English gentlemen acted as 
sponsors, from whom she had a cer- 
tificate of its birth. She was finally 
taken to Halifax, exchanged with other 
prisoners, and finally reached Fort 
Plain over a year after her capture. 
The boy born in captivity, Daniel 
Olendorf jr., became an inn keeper in 
Cooperstown and his brother Peter 
was an inn keeper at Fort Plain. Dan- 
iel Olendorf senior was one of the 
scouting party which shot Walter But- 
ler the next year at West Canada 
creek. 

Baltus Sitts, of the Geisenberg set- 
tlement, was at work in the fields with 
his wife and so escaped unseen, but 
his buildings were burned and plund- 
ered. Mary Sitts, nine years old, and 
her grandfather were captured. So- 
phia Sitts, a five-year-old, was taken 
by an Indian squaw in the apple or- 
chard. After carrying the little pris- 
oner on her back some distance, the 
squaw found it too hard and, setting 
the child on the ground, pointed to the 
house and told her to go back. The 
grandfather was taken to Fallhill 
where he was liberated at the interces- 
sion of the squaw named, who had 
doubtless received at some time some 
kindness or favor from the Sitts fam- 
ily. Mary Sitts was taken to Canada, 
adopted into an Indian family and 
ever after remained there. A few years 
later her father went after her and 



found her, in everything but color, a 
veritable squaw. No persuasion could 
induce her to return and she later be- 
came the wife of an Indian, at whose 
death she married a white man and 
remained in Canada. 

According to Simms, Sophia Sitts 
was living near Hallsville in 1882, be- 
ing then at the age of 107 years. 
Simms says she then distinctly re- 
membered her own and her sister's 
capture and says she was then five, 
placing her birth Oct. 6, 1774. This 
would make her the person living to 
the oldest known age in the history 
of the valley. In February, 1883, Mrs. 
Sitts was still living, being then 108 
years old. There is no record of her 
death, to the writer's knowledge, but 
she probably passed away soon after. 
Few women are said to have done so 
much hard work in their lifetime as 
this centenarian and for many years 
she was considered one of the best 
binders ever seen in a wheat field. 
Sophia Sitts had three husbands, Wil- 
liam Livingston, Joseph Pooler and 
Jacob Wagner. 

Another similar case to that of Mary 
Sitts is that of Christina Bettinger, 
taken prisoner near Hallsville. Her 
father, Martin, was with the militia on 
the expedition to Fort Schuyler and 
her mother was taken prisoner, with 
six children, but was liberated after 
the party had gone a short distance. 
Among all the demoniac savagery, 
which loved to murder and torture 
human beings of the tenderest years 
and of tottering age and all the per- 
iods between, Brant's periods of clem- 
ency and humanity stand out pecul- 
iarly. He evidently protected his for- 
mer friends as much as possible and 
he decried the fiendish savagerj' of 
Walter Butler and his like. There 
were other Indians somewhat like him. 
Christina Bettinger, 7 years old, was 
not at the house but was captured by 
another party and taken to Canada. 
She was not exchanged at the end of 
the war, and a few years later her 
father found her. He found her living 
among squaws and practically one of 
them. She was identified by the scar 
of a dog bite on her arm. She was 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



81 



given a small cake, baked and sent her 
by her mother, which touched her sen- 
sibility even to tears. She refused to 
return home and is believed to have 
married an Indian and, uncouth and 
uncivilized as she was, remained in her 
isolated wilderness adopted home. A 
family of Ecklers, residing near Bet- 
tingers, were also captured. 

Three brothers, John, Sebastian and 
Matthias Shaul, then resided at Van 
Hornesville and were all captured and 
taken to Canada. Frederick Bronner, 
living nearby, secreted himself under 
an untanned cowhide, and so escaped 
capture. The women and children 
here were allowed to return home by 
Brant, shortly after. Jacob Bronner, 
George Snouts and Peter Casselman 
were captured by the enemy near Fort 
Plank. After the raid nine settlers 
without coffins were buried at this 
post. 

The following is copied verbatim 
from Simms, as probably represent- 
ative of family border experiences: 

George Lintner was among the pio- 
neer residents of that part of the Can- 
ajoharie settlements known as Geis- 
enberg in the present town of Min- 
den, four miles from Fort Plain. On 
the 2d day of August, Lintner went 
early in the day to Fort Plank, a mile 
or two distant, to perform some duty. 
At the end of only a few hours he 
learned from the signal guns of the 
neighboring forts, as also from the 
constant discharge of firearms, which 
he believed in the hands of the enemy, 
that the invaders of the territory were 
numerous and would doubtless find 
every habitation in the district. The 
arrival of Rother and his niece and 
probably other fugitives at this post, 
told him of the possible fate of his own 
family, but he dared not proceed 
thither alone and Fort Plank was too 
feebly garrisoned to afford a sallying 
party. His family consisted of a wife 
and five children, their ages ranging 
at about 15, 11, 8 and 6 years and an 
infant of a few months; and being 
now unable to afford them needed as- 
sistance caused him many an anxious 
thought and fearful foreboding. The 
names of these children in which their 
ages stand were, Albert, Elizabeth, 
John and Abram. During the fore- 
noon, Mrs. Lintner and her children 
had heard the frequent discharge of 
guns in the neighborhood but did not 
suspect it proceeded from the enemy 
until noon, when they had seated 
themselves at the dinner table. The 



mother then began to feel disquieted 
and said: "My children we are eating 
our dmner here and the Indians might 
come and murder us before we are 
aware of it." As she said this she 
arose from the table and opened the 
door; and instantly she saw a sight 
that almost curdled the blood in her 
veins. Scarcely a mile distant she 
saw a thick cloud of smoke, and at 
once recognized it as coming from the 
roof of Rother's grist mill, while in* 
the next moment she heard the dis- 
charge of several guns which the en- 
emy had fired into a flock of sheep 
near the mill. Such omens could not 
be misconstrued, and snatching her 
infant child she fled from the house, 
followed by the other children, down 
a steep bank into the woods just be- 
yond. Scarcely had they gained this 
covert when the Indians entered the 
house and found the table ready for 
dinner; and, not finding the family in 
the house, they fired into and then 
searched the bushes through which the 
family had passed a few minutes be- 
fore. Their firing told the fugitives 
they had not fled one moment too soon. 
Dispatching the dinner so opportunely 
provided for them, they plundered and 
set fire to the house, and only remain- 
ing long enough to be sure it would 
burn, they left it to pay a similar visit 
to some other dwelling. After Mrs. 
Lintner had found a favorable place 
of concealment she discovered that 
Abram, her six-year-old boy, had be- 
come separated from the party, and 
although she felt a mother's anxiety 
for his safety, she dared not make a 
search for him. The lad found his 
way back to the house well on fire, ev- 
idently soon after the Indians left it 
and had sufficient presence of mind 
to pvUl the cradle out of doors. He re- 
mained about there all the afternoon 
and as night came on he dragged the 
cradle into a pig sty, still standing on 
the premises, in which he slept that 
night, too young to apprehend danger. 
The three oldest children, two boys 
and a girl, wended their way late in 
the day to Fort Clyde, which they 
reached in safety. Mrs. Lintner, with 
her infant child, remained that night 
under a hollow tree not far from her 
late home. A fainily dog was with 
her and several times in the evening 
its bark was answered by another 
which she supposed belonged to the 
enemy and which she feared might be- 
tray her hiding place. After a night 
of fearful solicitude, she made her way 
in safety to Fort Clyde, to find the 
children who had gained it the even- 
ing before. On the morning after he 
left his home of cheerful contentment, 
Lintner, having heard no alarm guns, 
ventured, as early as he dared to go, 
to learn the fate of his family. Find- 
ing his dwelling down, he approached 



82 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIxN 



its site with fearful apprehension, but, 
after careful examination of the de- 
bris in which he could find no charred 
remains, he became satisfied that the 
family had not been murdered in the 
house; and while still searching- the 
premises, if possible to learn their 
fate, he discovered his little boy in an 
adjoining field following some cattle, 
evidently not knowing what else to 
do. He asked h'm where his mother 
•and the other children were, when he 
began to cry, being unable to give any 
account of them except that they ran 
into the bushes back of the house! The 
father, having become satisfied that 
if the remainder of the family were 
not prisoners on the road to Canada, 
they might have reached Fort Clyde. 
Taking the hand of his little boy, 
thither he directed his steps; where to 
their great joy, the family were again 
united; when Mrs. Lintner, in Ger- 
man, expressed her gratitude as fol- 
lows: "Obwhol wir nun Alles verboren 
haben ausser den Kleidern die wir auf 
den Liebe tragen, so fuhl ich mich 
doch reicher als jezmor in meinen 
Leben!" ("Now, although, we have 
lost everything but the clothes we 
have on, I feel richer than I ever did 
before in all my life!") 

Within a short distance of Fort 
Ehle (a mile or more south of Cana- 
joharie) Brant's raiders surprised and 
killed Adam Eights and took captive 
to Canada, Nathan Foster and Conrad 
Fritcher. 



John Abeel was born in Albany 
about 1724. He was an Indian trader 
among the Senecas where he met the 
"beautiful daughter of a Seneca chief" 
and by her had a son who became the 
celebrated Cornplanter. He was forc- 
ed by Sir William Johnson to give up 
his business among the Iroquois be- 
cause his traffic in rum produced so 
much drunkenness and misery among 
them. In or shortly after 1756 he 
settled at the beginning of the Dutch- 
town road in the Sand Hill section and 
built himself a stone house. His 
grandson, Jacob Abeel, built here the 
present substantial brick house about 
1860. John Abeel settled upon lands 
secured by patent to Rutger Bleecker, 
Nicholas Bleecker, James Delancey 
and John HaskoU, in 1729. They se- 
cured 4,300 acres in a body along the 
Mohawk on each side of the Otsquago 
and extending up the creek several 



miles. In 1759 John Abeel married 
Mary Knouts. At the time of the Min- 
den raid, Abeel was captured by the 
Indians. He was taken on the flats, 
between the house and the river. The 
family were preparing dinner and the 
table was set with food upon it, when 
an alarm gun at Fort Plain caused the 
women and children to run to that 
nearby shelter. Arriving at the Abeel 
house and finding a good dinner be- 
fore them, the savages sat down and 
finished it. Some of the Indians 
i)rought out food and sat upon a 
wagon, which stood before the door to 
eat it. Henry Seeber, who was in the 
fort and had a good gun, took a shot 
at them although they were almost 
out of range. There Avas a commo- 
tion among them immediately and they 
scattered at once. Some of them fired 
the dwelling before leaving. As bloody 
rags were found about later it was 
evident that Seeber's bullet found a 
mark. It is believed that Cornplanter 
did not know of his father's captivity 
under several hours, when some war 
parties came together not very distant 
from the river. He had not been a 
prisoner long when he asked in the 
Indian tongue: "What do you mean 
to do with me?" This led at once to 
the inquiry as to his name and where 
he learned the Indian language. These 
things becoming known, among the 
savages, it was not long before Abeel 
was confronted by a chief of com- 
manding figure and manner, who ad- 
dressed him: "You, I understand, are 
John Abeel, once a trader among the 
Senecas. You are my father. My 
name is John Abeel, or Gy-ant-wa- 
chia, the Cornplanter. I am a warrior 
and have taken many scalps. You are 
now my prisoner but you are safe from 
all harm. Go with me to my home in 
the Seneca country and you shall be 
kindly cared for. My strong arm shall 
provide you with corn and venison. 
But if you prefer to go back among 
your pale-faced friends, you shall be 
allowed to do so, and I will send an es- 
cort of trusty Senecas to conduct you 
back to Fort Plain." The chief's father 
chose to return, and early in the even- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



83 



ing a party of Senecas left him near 
the fort. At the close of the war Abeel 
erected another house on the site of 
his burned dwelling. The trader had 
shown signs of insanity even prior to 
the war, and after that time, in one 
of his spells of insane anger, shot one 
of his negro slaves through the head, 
killing him. Neighbors went to ar- 
rest him but he seated himself in his 
door with his rifle and threatened to 
shoot the first one who attempted his 
arrest. At the first opportunity he was 
taken in charge but was not put on 
trial for the murder, as his unbalanc- 
ed condition was so marked. As there 
were no asylums in those days, he was 
chained to the floor in a room of his 
own house. Abeel had periodical fits of 
being very ugly and troublesome and, 
on such occasions, he would clank his 
chain and continue a kind of Indian 
war dance nearly all night. He was 
handed his food through a small hole 
with a slide door cut in the wall. As 
he advanced in years and became en- 
feebled he was allowed to wander 
about his farm, and on one of his ram- 
bles, he was gored to death by a bull. 
His death was recorded by Rev. D. C. 
A. Pick of the Reformed Dutch church 
of Canajoharie (now Fort Plain), as 
follows: "John Abeel, gestorben den 
1 December, 1794, alt 70; beerdigt den 
ejusd mensis annl alt in Michael." — 
John Abeel died 1 December, 1794, bur- 
ied the 3, same week, same month 
and year; aged in the day of St. Mich- 
ael 70 years. 



One of the numerous small bands, 
into which Brant divided his force to 
make destruction more complete, vis- 
ited the home of John Knouts in 
Freysbush. The site of the Knouts 
dwelling may still be seen in the apple 
orchard on the premises formerly 
owned by Josiah Roof. Here are also 
the graves of Mrs. Knouts and her 
children, slain by the Indians. Knouts 
was made here a prisoner and mur- 
dered on the way north after the sav- 
ages left the settlement. When the 
Indians entered the house, Mrs. Knouts 
was busy outside it and hearing the 



outcries of her children inside, she ran 
up just in time to see one of them 
tomahawked. While begging for her 
other children's lives, she was struck 
down and scalped with the other two 
children. Henry, a boy of eight or 
ten, was taken from the house, pre- 
sumably by a Tory neighbor, around 
the corner and told to run for his life. 
This he did but was seen by an In- 
dian, struck with a tomahawk, scalped 
and left for dead. On the day follow- 
ing a party went from Fort Clyde to 
bury these victims, when they found 
this little boy still alive and able to 
tell of the tragedy of the day before. 
He was an intelligent child and said 
he was running to get back of the barn 
and so into the woods. He said: "I 
should have escaped but an Indian met 
me between the house and the barn, 
who knocked me on the head with his 
hatchet and pulled out my hair," mean- 
ing that he had been scalped, of the 
details of which operation he was evi- 
dently ignorant. This brave little 
Knouts boy was taken to Fort Clyde 
and carefully treated and, after his 
wounds had nearly healed, he took cold 
and died. The mother was found ly- 
ing in the dooryard with the three 
children murdered with her in her 
arms. Thus Indians sometimes disposed 
of their slain, before firing a dwelling, 
as supposed to strike the greater ter- 
ror to living witnesses of their hellish 
cruelty. Her scalp was hanging on a 
stake, where the Indians had left it, 
evidently having forgotten it in their 
great haste to surprise other families. 
There is a tradition that the Indian 
who slew her took from her hand a 
ring having on it a Masonic emblem, 
discovering which he said: "Had I 
known the squaw had on such a ring, 
I would not have harmed her." It is 
needless to say the buildings on the 
Knouts place were burned and thus an 
entire family and their home were 
wiped out by almost incredible sav- 
agery. John Abeel, the Indian trader 
mentioned elsewhere, had married a 
Knouts girl, who was probably a rela- 
tive of this family. 

In the general destruction of the 



84 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Dutchtown settlements in Minden, to 
the surprise of everyone, the house of 
George Countryman remained un- 
harmed, since it was well known that 
there was not a more staunch Whig in 
the neighborhood. The circumstance 
remained a mystery until the close of 
the war. He had a brother who had 
followed the Butlers and Johnsons 
to Canada, who was with the Minden 
marauders. He was a married man 
and, supposing his wife was at his 
brother's house, induced the raiders to 
spare it. After the war this brother 
in Canada wrote George Countryman 
that had be known at the time that 
his own wife was not in it, he would 
have seen that smoke with the rest. 

The house of Johannes Lipe, very 
near Fort Plain, was saved from 
plunder and fire by the courage and 
presence of mind of his wife. She had 
been busy all the evening carrying her 
most valuable articles from her house 
to a place of concealment in the ra- 
vine nearby. The last time she re- 
turned she met two prowling Indians 
at the gate. She was familiar with 
their language and, without any ap- 
parent alarm, enquired of them if they 
knew anything of her two brothers 
who were among the Tories who liad 
fled to Canada. Fortunately the sav- 
ages had seen them at Oswegatchie 
and, supposing her to be a Tory like- 
wise, they walked off and the house 
was spared. 

The families of Freysbush who were 
accustomed to seek safety in Fort 
Clyde were Nellis, Yerdon, Garlock, 
Radnour, Dunckel, Wormuth, Miller, 
Lintner, Walrath, Lewis, Wolfe, Fail- 
ing, Schreiber, Ehle, Knouts, Wester- 
man, Brookman, Young, Yates and a 
few others. From the Knouts house 
the savages went to the home of Johan 
Steffanis Schreiber, who discovered 
them approaching and made his es- 
cape. They made prisoners of his wife 
and two or three small children and 
led them into captivity, a fact record- 
ed on a family powder horn, which is 
now owned by the state. 

Nancy Yerdon was married to George 
Pletts and lived on a farm owned in 
1882 by Philip Failing. She had given 



birth to twins a few months previous, 
one of whom had died, and had sev- 
eral other children. The family were 
living at Nancy's father's house, that 
of John Caspar Yerdon. On the day 
of the raid she went to the vicinity of 
a spring at some distance to dig pota- 
toes for dinner, leaving her nursing 
child in a cradle in the house. While 
at work an Indian made her a pris- 
oner and hurried her away to where 
other captives were being rounded up. 
The Yerdon house, for some reason, 
was not approached. After several 
small war parties were assembled, with 
their captives, a shower came up and 
the party took refuge behind a hay- 
stack. Here the savages conferred 
and decided to kill their prisoners if 
they had to abandon them. Mrs. Pletts, 
as the weather was warm, was clad 
only in an undergarment and a skirt, 
not even having on the accustomed 
short gown of that period, and thus 
scantily clad was compelled to 
travel all the way to Canada. The in- 
fant left in the cradle was named 
Elizabeth and grew up and married 
Henry Hurdick, who was a jockey on 
the local race-tracks of that day. 
Maria Strobeck, a "sprightly girl just 
entering her teens," was also captured 
with her father at a clearing where 
they had gone to get some ashes near 
the Failing farm in the vicinity of 
Mrs. Pletts, and went with the party 
as the latter did to Canada. On their 
way to Canada, Mrs. Pletts and the 
Strobeck girl, toward whom the former 
acted as a foster mother, were scantily 
fed. On her return, Mrs. Pletts told 
her friends that on their long, weary 
journey they came to a brook in which 
they caught several small fish which 
they ate raw, and, although they were 
wriggling in their mouths, they proved 
a luxury. On arriving in the Canadian 
country, they were taken into separ- 
ate Indian families; and, finding many 
unclean dishes, Mrs. Pletts, who was a 
tidy woman, voluntarily scoured them 
clean and kept them so. This act very 
much pleased the Indians, who treated 
her afterward with marked kindness. 
She felt it still her duty to keep a 
parental eye on Miss Strobeck. Find- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



85 



ing her romping with the young In- 
dians, the married woman tried to per- 
suade her to leave them, but "she was 
so happy with them she would give no 
heed to the counsel of Mrs. Pletts. In- 
deed she became so infatuated with 
the novelty of Indian life that she 
could not be persuaded to be included 
in the exchange of prisoners and did 
not return with Mrs. Pletts when she 
might. Some six or eight years after 
the war, her father journeyed to Can- 
ada and found her, but she could not 
be prevailed upon to return home with 
him; and it was supposed she subse- 
quently took an Indian husband and 
remained there." While among the In- 
dians, Mrs. Pletts was given a sewing 
needle, which she boasted of using for 
years after her return and which she 
prized very highly. Among the pris- 
oners who came back from Canada 
were Mrs. Pletts and John Peter Dunc- 
kel. Years later, when they were well 
along in years and were then widow 
and widower, they concluded to unite 
their fortunes, and came on foot to 
Dominie Gros, who then lived in Freys- 
bush. And so they were married and 
none of the ten grown-up children of 
the couple by former marriages, ob- 
jected or ever considered this uncon- 
ventional marriage of the old folks as 
a runaway match. It was an agree- 
able pastime for the young to hear 
this old couple relate stories of the 
war, their own perils included. 

Mrs. Dyonisius Miller was made a 
prisoner in the Freysbush settlement. 
She had with her a small nursing 
child. She was placed on a horse, 
which was led by an Indian to Can- 
ada. Although the savages generally 
came down in large bodies, they usu- 
ally returned in small parties; and 
prisoners taken near together often 
journeyed with different captives, some 
of them not meeting again until their 
return. As the party of which Mrs. 
Miller was one became straitened for 
food, she had but little nourishment 
for her infant child and, as it cried 
from weariness and hunger, an In- 
dian more than once came back, 
hatchet in hand to kill it, but pressing 
it to her breast, she would not afford 



him the desired opportunity. Indians 
dislike intensely the sound of a crying 
child. To save her darling, Mrs. Mil- 
ler kept almost constantly nursing it 
or attempting to, until her breast be- 
came so sore as to cause her great 
agony. But she saved the life of the 
infant girl and brought it back safely 
to her old home, when released. This 
child, when grown to womanhood, 
married William Dygert. 

Henry Nellis lived near Fort Clyde, 
upon whose land, the post was erected, 
with his son, George H. Nellis. The 
latter became a general of militia and 
man of considerable prominence at a 
later day. On the day of the raid they 
both fled to the fort pursued by a 
party of Indians. At a shot the son 
caught his foot in some obstruction 
and fell, his father thinking him killed. 
The younger man jumped up and both 
got inside the stockade in safety. A 
bullet hole through the son's hat show- 
ed that the fall had saved his life.. 

Adam Garlock was riding his horse, 
when the beast scented the Indians, 
as horses frequently did in those days. 
Garlock, thus warned, saw a party of 
Indians approaching, wheeled his 
horse about and galloped in safety to 
Fort Clyde amid a storin of bullets. 
"This circumstance is said to have 
aided him in procuring a $40 pension, 
of which bounty he felt quite proud." 
At this invasion of the enemy Eliza- 
beth Garlock was scalped and left for 
dead on the river road above Fort 
Plain. She supposed the deed was 
done by a Tory named Countryman, 
who had been a former neighbor. He 
was painted as an Indian. Tories were 
often called "blue-eyed Indians." Eliz- 
abeth Garlock recovered and later 
married Nicholas Phillips and died at 
Vernon, N. Y., at the age of 80 years. 
John, son of Thomas Casler, who 
was an early settler of Freysbush, was 
captured. On the way to Canada, the 
prisoners were bound to trees nights 
and one night the carelessness of the 
Indians set the leaves on fire. As the 
flames neared Casler, he called to the 
savages to release him. A Tory, in the 
raiding party, named Bernard Frey, 
who knew the prisoner well, said to 



86 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the Indians, "Let the damned rebel 
burn up." The red men, however, were 
more humane and saved Casler. A 
night or two later Casler escaped and, 
rightly supposing the savages would 
search for him on the back track, he 
ran back a short distance and hid to 
one side of the route. Here he remain- 
ed while his foes pursued him back 
and until their return. Then in safety 
he returned to the ashes of his home. 
Casler always said, in after life, that 
he would shoot Bernard Frey on sight, 
such was the feeling engendered 
among next-door neighbors around 
Fort Plain by this murderous warfare. 
Casler entertained no love for the In- 
dians and, during a subsequent deer 
hunting trip, killed a red man on a 
Schoharie mountain. 

Warner Dygert was murdered on his 
farm at the west end of the Canajo- 
harie district. He was a brother-in- 
law of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer, and 
kept a tavern at Fall Hill. Dygert, 
with his son Suffrenas, started out to 
make a corn crib, carrying a gun as 
was the universal custom in those 
days. His movements were watched 
by four Indians. He set down his 
gun and, with his tinder box and flint, 
lit his pipe. Just then he was shot 
down and scalped. The little boy was 
taken to Canada, finally returning in 
the same party with Mrs. Pletts and 
Mr. Dunckel, before mentioned and 
other captives from the Canajoharie 
district. The younger Dygert finally 
removed to Canada. 

Jacob Nellis of Dutchtown was jour- 
neying to Indian Castle on the day of 
the raid. He was shot down opposite 
East Canada crfeek. His father, who 
was called the oldest man of the name, 
saved himself by a ruse. As the In- 
dians approached the house, the old 
man shouted at the top of his voice: 
"Here they are boys! March up! 
March up!" and the savages fled, fear- 
ing the house was fortified. A German 
doctor and his wife, named Frank, 
were killed in Dutchtown. Frederick 
Countryman was stabbed with a 
spear nineteen times and killed. 
Brant expressed regret at this and 
coming up and seeing the corpse 



made the typical Indian remark: "It 
is as it is, but if it had not 
been, it should not happen." An old 
man named House was captured and 
killed because the savages thought 
him too old to bother with on the Ca- 
nadian march. A girl named Martha 
House was captured thinly clad and 
taken to Canada, reaching there after 
the long, hard -journey in an almost 
naked condition. Her Indian captor 
treated her kindly. On her return she 
married a man named Staley, who had 
also been a Canadian captive. 

Regarding Brant, during this raid 
the following comes from an early 
writer. Rev. Dr. Lintner, born in the 
locality and who knew the people and 
circumstances: "He [Brant] occa- 
sionally exhibited traits of humanity 
which were redeeming qualities of his 
character. On the evening of the day 
when the Canajoharie settlement was 
destroyed by the Indians, some 12 or 
15 women were brought in as prison- 
ers. Brant saw their distress and his 
heart was touched with compassion. 
While the Indians were regaling 
themselves over their plunder — danc- 
ing and yelling around their camp 
fires, Brant approached the little group 
of terror-stricken prisoners and said: 
'Follow me!' They expected to be led 
to instant death but he conducted 
them through the darkness of the 
dreadful night to a place in the woods 
some distance from the Indian camp, 
where he ordered them to sit down and 
keep still until the next day, when the 
sun should have reached a mark which 
he made on a tree, and then they 
might return home. He then left them. 
The next morning, a little before break 
of day, he came again and made an- 
other mark higher on the tree and 
told them they must not set out till 
the sun had reached that mark; for 
some of his Indians were still back, 
and if they met them they would be 
killed. They remained according to 
his directions and then they safely re- 
turned to the settlement." The Rev. 
Mr. Lintner said in a historical ad- 
dress: "Much of the bitter feeling 
which existed in this country against 
the mother country, after the Revolu- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



tion, was engendered by that inhuman 
policy which instigated the savages to 
make war upon us with the tomahawk 
and scalping knife. The bounty of- 
fered for scalps was horrible. It stim- 
ulated the savages to acts of barbar- 
ity and was revolting to the moral 
feelings and social sympathies of all 
civilized peoples." 

There is at least one personal ex- 
perience related of a soldier who prob- 
ably accompanied Gansevoort's troops 
to Fort Schuyler, which expedition re- 
sulted in the Canajoharie district raid. 
In the spring of 1780 Jacob Shew went 
for one of "a class," as then termed, in 
Capt. Garret Putman's company, for 
the term of nine months, part of which 
time he was on duty at Fort Plank. 
The ranger service often called troops 
from one post to another. Shew was 
one of a guard of about a dozen men 
sent with a drove of cattle from Fort 
Plain to Fort Schuyler. While en- 
camped near the village of Mohawk 
they were fired upon in the dark and 
several Americans were wounded. The 
fire was promptly returned and there 
was no reply from the enemy. Shew 
was also one of a guard sent up the 
Mohawk with several boats loaded 
with provisions and military stores. 
These boats, at that time, were usu- 
ally laden at Schenectady and came 
to Fort Plain, where an armed guard 
was detailed to escort them up the 
valley. The troops went along the 
shore and at the rapids had to assist 
in getting the boats along, which were 
laid up nights, the boatmen encamping 
on the shore with the guard. 



The tactics of these British and In- 
dian raids was to destroy the supplies 
of Tryon county patriots and crumple 
back the frontier. During the whole 
war no deadlier blow, in this direction, 
was struck than that who.se force cen- 
tered in Minden around Fort Plain. 

Fort Plain must have been a scene 
of tragedy enough to wring the stout- 
est heart. It was manned by a tiny 
garrison which feared, at any time, its 
utter annihilation and filled with men, 
women and children, all of whom had 
lost their homes and many of whom 



mourned part or all of their families 
as dead or captured. Their grief was 
not mitigated by resentment toward 
the stupid act of the officials who had 
left unguarded one of the richest gran- 
aries of the opulent valley, to insure 
the safety of a few boat loads of pro- 
visions and supplies. 



What was true of Fort Plain was 
also true of the other posts of the 
Canajoharie district. Forts Win- 
decker. Plank and Clyde. Fort Wil- 
lett was not then constructed. They 
were all crowded with the survivors 
of their neighborhoods. The Cana- 
joharie district was thickly settled- for 
that time and that portion of it com- 
prised within the present town of 
Minden was particularly so, with its 
fertile Freysbush and Dutchtown sec- 
tions. It was owing to the very com- 
plete chain of fortifications hereabouts 
that the greater part of the popula- 
tion escaped massacre. The people of 
Palatine also gathered in Fort Paris 
and Fort Kyser, and all up and down 
the valley, the population, left unde- 
fended by the absence of their mili- 
tary force, fled to neighboring forts. 
The fortified and palisaded farmhouses 
inust almost have been crowded by a 
panic-stricken population and it was 
only these few well-defended places 
that escaped destruction. 

Simms gives an account of the forti- 
fied houses of this section which are 
here suminarized as follows: 

In Canajoharie township: Fort Ehle; 
A"an Alstine house (now called, for 
some unknown reason, Fort Rennse- 
laer) ; Fort Failing. 

In Palatine: Fort Frey, Fort Wag- 
ner, Fort Fox. 

In St. Johnsville: Fort Hess, Fort 
Klock, Fort Nellis, Fort Timmerman, 
Fort House (a little below East Creek). 

Simms gives no similar list of the 
Minden fortified houses. 



William Irving Walter of St. Johns- 
ville, in a letter to the Fort Plain 
Standard under date of December 19, 
1912, says of the Minden raid: 

"The raiders, after their work of 
massacre and rapine, camped at a ra- 



88 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



vine a little to the west of Starkville, 
still known locally as Camp Creek, 
where they intended to rest a few days 
and recruit for their long trip on the 
return." Brant's stay here was short- 
ened by the approach of the militia, 
but at least part of his force was in 
the Minden vicinity two or three days. 
This shows the retreat of the Tory and 
Indian force to have been back up the 
Otsquago valley to the headwaters of 
the Susquehanna and from thence into 
the Iroquois country. 



Simms says that Fort Plain became 
the headquarters of the neighboring 
valley forts in 1780. Whether it was 
such at the time of the Minden raid is 
not known. Here a military escort 
took charge of the convoys of sup- 
plies brought up the valley on flat- 
boats, as before stated. This would 
necessitate a garrison larger than at 
the ordinary post and the American 
valley commander would naturally se- 
lect the post, with the largest garri- 
son and a central location, as his head- 
quarters. Fort Plain was the most 
centrally located post in the valley 
and it was also the point where the 
guard for the boats was located, so 
that it is probable it was the head- 
quarters on August 2, 1780. 



Mrs. W. W. Crannell, an Albany 
writer, in her "Grandmother's Child- 
hood Tales," gives a picture which 
might well pass and may well be that 
of a Minden family during the night of 
the raid of August 2, 1780. This ac- 
count also gives a picture of a Mo- 
hawk valley farm house in the early 
nineteenth century and the whole is 
here included: 

Seventeen miles from my own home 
in the county of Herkimer, was situ- 
ated the old home in which my mother 
was born. With the exception of 
Santa Claus, there was nothing looked 
forward to so eagerly, or from which 
we anticipated so much pleasure as 
the semi-annual visit to this old home- 
stead. After we left the main road, 
we drove along a private road or lane, 
that made its way from one main road 
to another; a sort of short cut of two 
or three miles, through the lands of 
several farmers whose houses were 
built, as the farmhouses of that period 
were wont to be, in the center of the 



farm. When we reached the door- 
yard, we unbarred the gate and drove 
through a flock of hissing geese and 
quacking ducks, up to the back or 
porch door. The noise of the geese 
would call grandmother to the door, 
and her bright, cherry face, crowned 
with its wealth of snowy, white hair, 
would appear at the upper half of the 
door, which was flung open while her 
trembling fingers were unfastening 
the lower half. How well I remember 
the old house, with its porch or 
"stoop," through which we passed 
into the "living room." The red beams 
overhead were filled with pegs, upon 
which were hung braided ears of corn, 
stumps of dried apples, or other home- 
ly articles which had not been put in 
winter quarters yet. And then the 
fire-place — such corn and potatoes as 
we roasted in its ashes. How often we 
sat before its cheerful blaze and drank 
sweet cider and ate apples, while we 
listened to our elders' tales, until Mor- 
pheus wooed us to his embrace. And 
what fun it was to climb into bed. 
First to pull the curtains back, and 
then throw down the blue and white 
spread, the flannel and the linen 
sheets, all homespun. If it was cold, 
the warming pan was placed between 
the sheets, and then, getting upon a 
chair, we stept upon the chest near the 
bed, and with the aid of mother and a 
"one, two, three," in we went, down, 
down, down into the soft warm feather 
beds. Did we ever sleep such a sleep 
as that in after years? 

But I digress; this is not what I set 
out to relate. When mother and aunts 
were out visiting the neighbors then 
grandmother (Nancy Keller), taking 
knitting, would sit down before the flre 
and talk of her girlhood. 

"Those were hard and dreadful 
times," she would say. "Some of them 
I do not remember, as I was a baby 
when they transpired, but my mother 
(Moyer) told me that often she would 
wake up in the mkldle of tlie night arid 
the sound of a horn, and a man's voice 
crying out 'To arms! to arms!' 
Father would run for his musket, and 
mother would take me in her arms 
and, with my two brothers clinging to 
her dress, start for her shelter in the 
woods. All the farmers had some 
place of safety for their families to 
run to in case of an alarm. Ours was 
a hollow place in the woods between 
some trees. It was just big enough 
for us to lie down in, and the boughs 
and underbrush at the sides had been 
arranged to hide it from the savage 
eye. One night we had gained the 
place in safety, our way to the woods 
being lighted by fires from burning 
hay-stacks and buildings. I had been 
ill and I moaned and cried, while my 
brothers lay down as close to mother's 
side as possible. All at once we heard 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



89 



soft foot falls on the leafy ground; 
then an Indian passed quickly with a 
lighted torch, then another and an- 
other; how many was never known for 
we could see them so plainly through 
the boughs placed over us, that we 
closed our eyes in fear and scarcely 
breathed. Yes 'we,' for I ceased 
crying and nestled close on mother's 
breast. How long did we lie there? 
We never knew. Measured by what 
we endured it was ages before we 
heard father's voice calling, 'All 
right, come out,' and what must moth- 
er have suffered? Every gun shot 
might be the death call of her hus- 
band; every footfall and quick passing 
shadow, be death personified for her. 
And when the footfall ceased near 
her hiding place and the shadow re- 
mained stationary, when one cry of 
the baby in her arms or the children 
at her side were messengers of instant 
and horrible death; when at last the 
shadow started and the feet gave a 
headlong bound, and a fearful whoop 
rang out upon the stillness about her; 
what wonderful control of her nerves 
she must have had, not to betray her 
l^resence by the least movement, and 
how well we learned, even to the baby 
to sustain a rigid silence." 



CHAPTER XVni. 

1780 — Johnson's Schoharie and Mo- 
hawk Invasion — Oct. 19, Battles of 
Stone Arabia and St. Johnsville — Van 
Rensselaer's Inefficiency — Enemy Es- 
capes — Fort Plain Named Fort Rens- 
selaei — Fort Plain Blockhouse Built 
— Fort Willett Begun. 

In the fall of 1780, an invading force 
under Sir John Johnson, Joseph Brant 
and the Seneca chief Cornplanter, rav- 
aged the Schoharie and Mohawk val- 
leys. The battles of Stone Arabia and 
St. Johnsville were fought and the 
enemy escaped, after a defeat at the 
latter place. They would have been 
crushed or captured by a pursuing 
American force had it not been for the 
complete inefficiency of the militia 
commander, Gen. Robert Van Rens- 
selaer. Practically every town of 
Montgomery county was concerned in 
this campaign, either being the scene 
of ravages by Johnson or the march 
of and battles of the patriot force. 
The object of this Tory and Indian 
raid, like all others, was to destroy 
completely the houses, barns and crops 
of all the Whigs along the Schoharie 



and Mohawk. By destroying or plun- 
dering the country of all supplies the 
enemy hoped to weaken the resistance 
of the frontier. This raid was particu- 
larly destructive to the Schoharie coun- 
try. It followed, within three months, 
Brant's terrible Minden foray of Au- 
gust 2, 1780. Thus did blow after blow 
fall upon the suffering but valiant peo- 
ple of the Mohawk. 

At Unadilla, Brant and Cornplanter, 
with their Indians, joined Johnson and 
his force, which consisted of three 
companies of the Royal Greens, one 
company of German Yagers, 200 of 
Butler's rangers, a company of Brit- 
ish regulars and a party of Indians. 
The total force must have approximat- 
ed 800 men or more. Sir John and his 
army came from Montreal, by way of 
Oswego, bringing with them two small 
mortars and a brass three-pounder, 
mounted on legs instead of wheels and 
so called a "grasshopper." This artil- 
lery was mounted on pack horses. 

The plan of the raiders was, upon 
reaching the Schoharie, to pass the 
upper, of the three small forts on that 
stream, by night and unobserved; to 
destroy the settlements between there 
and the Middle Fort and attack the 
latter in the morning. This plan was 
carried out October 16, the homes of 
all but Tories being burned. The Mid- 
dle Fort was bombarded without ef- 
fect and the enemy then moved down 
the Schoharie to Fort Hunter, making 
a feeble attack on the Lower Fort by 
the way. 

All buildings and hay stacks belong- 
ing to Whigs were burned and their 
cattle and horses appropriated. One 
hundred thousand bushels of grain 
were thus destroyed and (says Beers) 
nearly 100 settlers were murdered. 
The Whigs were so roused over the 
destruction of their property that, af- 
ter the enemy disappeared, they fired 
the buildings and crops of their Tory 
neighbors, which had been spared, and 
the ruin along the Schoharie was thus 
complete. 

Ravaging the Schoharie valley, 
Johnson and Brant's Tory and Indian 
force moved north, down the Scho- 
harie creek, and entered that part of 



90 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



its course which flows through Mont- 
gomery county. Johnson buried one 
mortar he had been using and his 
shells in a little "Vlaie" (natural 
meadow) in the town of Charleston. 
In 1857 some of these shells were plow- 
ed up. The Schoharie militia, under 
Col. Vrooman, followed Johnson's 
course toward the Mohawk, during 
which march the enemy took several 
prisoners and continued the looting 
and burning of houses and barns. 
Johnson and Brant gave Fort Hunter 
a wide berth, passing that fortification 
at a distance of half a mile. Here a 
Tory named Schremling, was scalped 
and killed (his political leanings not 
being known) and a number of women 
and children of the Schremling, Young 
and Martin families were captured. 

An Indian and Tory detachment 
crossed the Mohawk to plunder and 
ravage the north side, while the main 
body continued westward through the 
town of Glen, on the south side high- 
way, to a point, in the town of Root, a 
little east of the Nose, known on the 
Erie canal as the Willow Basin, and 
there encamped for the night. Nearly 
all the buildings, on both sides, along 
the Mohawk were burned and plunder- 
ed from Fort Hunter to the Nose. On 
this march British regulars guarded 
the prisoners to prevent the Indians 
from murdering them. A little cap- 
tive girl of ten years, Magdalena Mar- 
fin, was taken up by Walter Butler 
and rode in front of him on his horse. 
The evening being very bitter, Butler 
let the little maid put her cold hands in 
his fur-lined pockets and thus they 
journeyed to the camping ground. 
One of the raiders asked Butler what 
he was going to do with the pretty 
girl. "Make a wife of her," was his 
quick reply. This small Revolutionary 
captive became the wife of Matthias 
Becker and the mother of ten children. 
She died in Fort Plain, at the home of 
her son-in-law, William A. Haslett, in 
1862, in her 93d year. So closely are 
we unknowingly linked with the past 
that there may be those who read this 
page who personally knew this old 
lady, who, as a little girl, rode with 
Butler and warmed her hands in his 



pockets on a chillj^ October night over 
a century and a quarter ago. And 
such a strange and wayward thing is 
the nature of man that we look with 
wonder at the picture of this Tory 
murderer of women and little ones 
cuddling a small rebel child to keep 
her from the cold. 

The next morning at the Nose, learn- 
ing that a force of Albany and Sche- 
nectady militia were coming after him, 
Johnson allowed Mrs. Martin and her 
children to return home, with the ex- 
ception of her 14-year-old son. 

News of the raid had reached Al- 
bany and the Schenectady and Albany 
militia quickly assembled and pro- 
ceeded with great speed up the Mo- 
hawk to attack Johnson's men. Gen. 
Robert Van Rensselaer of Claverack, 
commanded the pursuit and he was ac- 
companied l)y Gov. Clinton. On the 
evening of the 18th they encamped in 
the present town of Florida. From 
there Van Rennselaer sent word to 
Col. Brown at Fort Paris and to Fort 
Plain (probably directed to Col. John 
Harper). Brown was ordered to at- 
tack the enemy in the front the next 
morning, while Van Rensselaer's army 
fell on their rear. 

On September 11, 1780, according to 
a state report, Col. Brown, at Fort 
Paris, had 276 men under him, and 
Col. John Harper (supposedly at Fort 
Plain then) commanded 146, and there 
were but 455 men to guard the fron- 
tier in the Canajoharie-Palatine dis- 
tricts. These troops were then under 
the command of Brigadier-General 
Robert Van Rensselaer. When Brown 
attacked Johnson at Stone Arabia he 
had but 200 American militiamen with 
him and it is probable the balance of 
the patriot force (then located at three 
posts) in this neighborhood were left 
to guard the forts or were on duty 
elsewhere. The Fort Plain soldiers 
joined Van Rensselaer's force as later 
noted. The valley people, warned of 
the enemy's approach, gathered in the 
local forts for safety and there were 
few or no casualities among them, 
after Johnson left Fort Hunter on his 
march westward. 

On the morning of October 19, 1780, 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



m 



Johnson's army crossed the Mohawk 
at Keator's rift (near Sprakers) and 
headed for Stone Arabia, leaving a 
guard of 40 men at the ford. At al- 
most the same time Col. Brown parad- 
ed his men, to the number of 150 or 
200, and sallied forth from Fort Paris 
to meet the enemy. The American 
commander, mounted on a small black 
horse, marched straight for the ap- 
proaching foe. He passed Fort 
Keyser, where he was joined by a few 
militiamen, and met Johnson's army 
in an open field about two miles east 
by north of Palatine Bridge. Capt. 
Casselman advised Col. Brown, con- 
sidering the overwhelming force and 
protected position of the enemy, to 
keep the Americans covered by a 
fence. Without his usual caution, 
Brown ordered an advance into the 
open, where his men were subjected to 
a heavy fire. The militia returned the 
fire, fought gallantly and stood their 
ground, although many of their num- 
ber were being killed and wounded. 
Seeing he was being outflanked by the 
Indians, at about ten in the morning, 
Col. Brown ordered a retreat, at which 
time he was struck down by a musket 
ball through the heart. The pursuit 
of the enemy made it impossible for 
his men to bear off their commander's 
body and it was scalped and stripped 
of everything except a ruffled shirt. 
Thirty Americans were killed and the 
remainder fled, some north into the 
forest and some south toward the Mo- 
hawk and Van Rensselaer's army. 
Two of the Stone Arabia men took 
refuge in Judge Jacob Backer's house 
and put up a defense until the Indians 
fired the building, after which the sav- 
ages stood around and laughed at the 
shrieks of their burning victims. The 
enemy's loss was probably less than 
that of the Americans on this field. 

The British regulars passed Fort 
Keyser without firing a shot. Capt. 
John Zielie. with six militiamen and 
two aged farmers, were at the port- 
holes, with muskets cocked and hats 
filled with cartridges at their sides, 
but held their fire for fear of an at- 
tack which would mean annihilation. 
When the enemy were out of sight four 



of the militiamen from this post set 
out for the field of battle, found Col. 
Brown's body and bore it back in their 
arms to Fort Keyser. 

The Tories, British and Indians after 
this ravaged, plundered and burned all 
through the Stone Arabia district, 
among other buildings, burning both 
the Reformed and Lutheran churches. 
Few, if any of the inhabitants were 
killed or captured as all had taken 
refuge in the forts or in the woods. 
After the burning and plundering, 
Johnson collected his men by bugle 
calls and the blowing of tin horns and 
pursued his way westward toward the 
Mohawk. 

On the morning of the 19th, Gen. 
"Van Rensselaer started his pursuit, 
from his Florida campground, at 
moonrise. He reached Fort Hunter 
before daybreak and was there joined 
by the Schoharie militia. Van Rens- 
selaer came up to Keator's rift, 
shortly after Johnson had crossed. It 
was probably here that his force was 
joined by Col. Harper, Capt. McKean 
with 80 men (probably from Fort 
Plain) and a large body of Oneida In- 
dians under their principal chief, 
Louis Atayataroughta, who had been 
commissioned a lieutenant-colonel by 
congress. Col. Harper, probably then 
in command at Fort Plain (as S. L. 
Frey locates him there in September), 
was in chief command of the Oneidas. 
Van Rensselaer's army was now dou- 
ble that of Johnson's. Here the Am- 
erican commander halted, perhaps de- 
terred from crossing the ford by the 
small rear guard of the enemy which 
was stationed on the opposite bank. 
The firing at the Stone Arabia field, 
two miles distant, was plainly heard 
and here came fugitives fleeing from 
the defeated force, bringing news of 
the rout and of the killing of Col. 
Brown. One of Brown's men, a militia 
officer named Van Allen, promptly re- 
ported to Gen. Van Rensselaer, with 
an account of the action, and asked 
the latter if he was not going to cross 
the river and engage the enemy. The 
general replied that he did not know 
the fording place well enough. He was 
told that the ford was easy and Van 



92 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Allen offered to act as pilot. There- 
upon Capt. McKean's company and the 
Oneidas crossed the river. Instead of 
supporting this advance party, in his 
promised cooperation with Col. 
Brown's men, it then being near 
noontime, Gen. Van Rensselaer now 
accompanied Col. Dubois to Fort Plain 
to dine with Gov. Clinton. 

Gen. Van Rensselaer, after leaving 
Keator's Rift, ordered the company of 
Lieut. Driscoll and his artillery to 
Fort Plain, possibly anticipating an 
attack by Johnson in that quarter. He 
tried the ford opposite Fort Frey but 
found it impassable and ordered his 
men to cross at Walrath's ferry at 
Fort Plain. They, however, made the 
passage of the Mohawk at Ehle's rift, 
near what was later Ver Planck's and 
is now called Nellis's island. They 
stopped at the house of Adam Coun- 
tryman on the Canajoharie side and 
here turned into the road which led 
to the ford, which existed in the river 
prior to the barge canal operations. 
This was later the Ver Planck and 
still later the Nellis farm. Here the 
American troops began the passage of 
the Mohawk while their general was 
wasting valuable time in a lengthy 
dinner at "Fort Plain or Rensselaer." 

At Fort Plain, it is said. Col. 
Harper denounced Van Rensselaer 
for his incompetency and appar- 
ent cowardice and other officers 
joined in with Harper, while the 
Oneida chief called him a Tory to his 
face. About four o'clock Van Rens- 
selaer rode back, through the present 
village of Fort Plain, to his men, who 
were as bitter against him as his of- 
ficers were. Here he found that the 
remainder of his army had crossed 
the Mohawk at Ehle's rift (just below 
Fort Plain), in the extreme western 
end of the town of Canajoharie, on a 
rude bridge built upon wagons driven 
into the river. At length Van Rens- 
selaer was stung into something like 
activity and, late in the afternoon, the 
pursuit was rapidly resumed (from 
the present village of Nelliston) up 
the north shore turnpike through the 
town of Palatine. 

Sir John Johnson, seeing that he 



could not avoid an attack, threw up 
slight breastworks and arranged his 
forces in order of battle. This posi- 
tion was in the town of St. Johnsville, 
about one and one-half miles east of 
the eastern village limits of the vil- 
lage of St. Johnsville. The Tories and 
Butler's rangers occupied a small 
plain, partly protected by a bend in 
the river, while Brant with his In- 
dians, concealed in a thicket on a 
slight elevation farther north, were 
supported by a detachment of German 
Yagers. It was near evening when the 
Americans came up and the battle 
commenced. Van Rensselaer's extreme 
right was commanded by Col. Dubois, 
and then came the Oneidas and the left 
was led by Col. Cuyler. As the Amer- 
icans approached the Indians in am- 
bush shouted the war-whoop. The 
Oneidas responded and rushed upon 
their Iroquois brethren, followed by 
McKean's men; the latter supported by 
Col. Dubois, whose wing of the battle 
was too extended to match the ene- 
my's disposition of forces. Brant's 
savage band resisted for a time the 
impetuovis charge, but finally broke 
and fled toward a ford, about two miles 
up the river. Brant was wounded in 
the heel but got away. Several were 
killed and wounded on both sides and 
the enemy everywhere gave way in 
great disorder and fled westward. It 
was now becoming so dark that the 
American officers feared their men 
would shoot each other and the gen- 
eral firing was discontinued, although 
the Oneidas, Capt. McKean's and Col. 
Clyde's men pursued and harassed the 
flying enemy, capturing one of their 
field pieces and some prisoners. John- 
son's men, utterly exhausted from their 
prior marching and exertions, camped 
on a meadow, at a point on the 
river near the ford. Here he spiked 
and subsequently abandoned his can- 
non. At this time the Americans could 
have driven the enemy into the river 
and have captured or destroyed them. 
All accounts agree that the patriot 
troops were eager to get at the enemy 
but their spirit was of no avail owing 
to the weakness of their commanding 
officer. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



93 



Col. Dubois took a position above 
Johnson on the north side of the river 
to prevent the enemy's escape. Col. 
Harper's men and the Oneidas crossed 
to the opposite side and camped on 
the Minden shore, opposite Johnson's 
bivouac. Gen. Van Rensselaer or- 
dered an attack at moonrise, giving 
orders that it was to begin under his 
personal supervision. He then exe- 
cuted the remarkable manoeuvre of 
falling back with the main body down 
the river three miles, where he went 
into camp for the night. Johnson's 
entire force^ as subsequently shown, 
could have been easily captured at 
any time, as it was on the point of 
surrendering. Van Rensselaer failed, 
of course, to attack and, at moonrise, 
Johnson crossed the ford and escaped 
to the westward with his entire force, 
abandoning his cannon and 40 or 50 
horses captured in the Schoharie val- 
ley, which were subsequently recov- 
ered by their owners. The next morn- 
ing one of the enemy was killed and 
nine captured by seven men and a boy 
from Fort Windecker, some of them 
surrendering voluntarily on account of 
fatigue. 

Gen. Van Rensselaer sent a mes- 
sage to Fort Schuyler for a force to 
proceed from that point to Onondaga 
lake to destroy Johnson's boats. Capt. 
Vrooman set out with 50 men, all of 
whom were captured by Johnson, 
through the treachery of one of Vroo- 
man's party. The Oneidas and a body 
of the militia moved up the river after 
the retreating enemy, expecting Van 
Rensselaer to follow as he promised. 
Coming next morning upon the still 
burning camp fires of the enemy, the 
pursuing party halted, the Oneida chief 
fearing an ambuscade and refusing to 
proceed until the main body came up 
under Van Rensselaer. After fol- 
lowing leisurely forward as far as 
Fort Herkimer, the Continental com- 
mander abandoned his weak pursuit 
and sent a messenger recalling the ad- 
vance force. 

The American army turned about 
face and marched back down the Mo- 
hawk. The garrisons returned to their 
posts and the militia to what shelters 



they had made or could make for 
themselves and their families, within 
the zones of protection afforded by 
these fortifications. The Schenectady 
and Albany militia continued on down 
the valley to their homes under the 
leadership of their thoroughly discred- 
ited commander. 



This American army was one of the 
largest yet concentrated in the valley 
and probably was only equalled in 
numbers by that of Clinton which had 
encamped at Canajoharie the year be- 
fore. The force that took the field on 
both sides at Klock's Field was the 
largest which arrayed itself for battle 
on any one Revolutionary field in the 
Mohawk country. About the same 
numbers were here engaged as at 
Oriskany (2,500), but at the action of 
St. Johnsville the clash took place on 
one battleground while Oriskany con- 
sisted of two fights several miles apart 
— the bloody struggle in the ravine and 
Willett's destructive sail;- from Fort 
Schuyler. Van Rensselaer's army had 
accomplished practically nothing and, 
moreover, had sat supinely by while 
Brown's heroic band was being scat- 
tered by the enemy. And all this lost 
opportunity and disgraceful record 
was due to the incapacity or cowardice 
of a general totally unfitted for mili- 
tary command. It was left for Willett, 
a year later, to show how effectively 
the valley Americans, when properly 
led, could beat off the Canadian in- 
vaders. 

Time after time, up to the day of 
the Stone Arabia battle, the local 
patriot soldiers had attempted to grap- 
ple with their savage white and red 
invaders, only to see them slip away 
on each occasion, unharmed and un- 
punished. Now, after the enemy had 
been cornered at Klock's Field and 
could have been easily destroyed or 
captured, they had been practically 
given their liberty by Van Rensselaer. 

The valley militia had flocked to the 
American standard, eager to strike a 
fatal blow at their hated foes. The 
patriot population and soldiers of the 
Mohawk must have been indeed dis- 
heartened, discouraged and disgusted 



94 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



at this fiasco of a campaign, wliicii 
initially had promised complete Amer- 
ican success. 

Van Rensselaer's conduct was the 
worst display of inefficiency or cow- 
ardice seen in the valley, and perhaps 
anywhere, during the Revolution. An 
opportunity was lost of crushing com- 
pletely the raiders and probably pre- 
venting future bloodshed and loss in 
the valley. Van Rensselaer was sub- 
sequently courtmartialed at Albany 
for his conduct but was acquitted, 
largely on account of his wealth and 
social position, it is said. 

There was much scurrilous intrigue, 
dissension, bickering and petty jeal- 
ousy among certain cliques of so-call- 
ed patriots. The real American Revo- 
lutionary fighters were compelled to 
combat these vicious forces from 
within as well as the enemy. The ac- 
quittal of Van Rensselaer is an evi- 
dence that all Americans were not act- 
uated by high-minded patriotism and 
strict justice, during the war of inde- 
pendence. 

Had the Continental Revolutionary 
forces been composed exclusively of 
men like Washington and Willett the 
conflict would have ended within a 
year or two in complete American suc- 
cess. Not only did such patriots have 
to fight the early battles with raw, 
undisciplined and frequently unreli- 
able troops, but they had to constant- 
ly combat an insidious Tory influence 
among the people and the effect of 
such inefficiency as that exemplified 
in Van Rensselaer and men of his ilk. 



At this time, and until its discon- 
tinuance as an army post, the Minden 
fort was known both as Fort Plain and 
Fort Rensselaer, the latter being its 
official title, conferred upon it prob- 
ably by Van Rensselaer himself; Fort 
Plain evidently being its popular name 
and the one which survived until a 
later date. This is treated in a sub- 
sequent chapter. 

In S. L. Frey's article on Fort Rens- 
selaer (Fort Plain) published in the 
(Fort Plain) Mohawk Valley Register 
of March 6, 1912, he says: "Gen. Van 
Rensselaer * * * was appointed to 



the command of some of the posts in 
this section in the summer of 1780, — 
F'ort Paris, Fort Plank, Fort Plain and 
others. His headquarters were at Fort 
Plain. In the fall of that year he wrote 
to Gov. Clinton from Fort Plain, dat- 
ing his letter 'Fort Rensselaer, Sept. 4, 
1780.' This is the first time the name 
appears." 

Van Rensselaer evidently gave his 
name to his headquarters post on his 
arrival there in the summer of 1780, 
which may have been in August after 
the Minden raid. At the time of the 
Stone Arabia battle. Col. John Harper 
was in command of Fort Plain (under 
Gen. Van Rensselaer, of course). 

In the court martial of Gen. Van 
Rensselaer the designation "Fort 
Plane or Rensselaer" is frequently 
used in the testimony of the witnesses. 
In this evidence appears the names of 
the following as having been engaged 
in the valley military operations of the 
time of the Stone Arabia battle: Col. 
Dubois, Col. Harper, Major Lewis R. 
Morris, Col. Samuel Clyde (who com- 
manded a company of Tryon county 
militia), Lieut. Driscoll and Col. Lewis, 
in whose quarters at "Fort Plane or 
Rensselaer," the commanding general 
went to dine. 



The number of Oneidas engaged in 
the foregoing military operations is 
given as 200 warriors by one author- 
ity and 80 by another, the smaller 
figure probably being nearer the truth. 
During part, at least, of the war this 
tribe lived in, about and under the 
protection of Fort Hunter, their own 
country being too exposed to invasion. 
The Oneidas were generally loyal to 
the American cause and did good ser- 
vice for the patriots on several oc- 
casions — notably the campaign treated 
in this chapter, at Oriskany and at 
West Canada creek. As previously 
stated Col. John Harper was in com- 
mand of these Indians, taking rank 
over their native chief. 



After the Stone Arabia battle, some 
25 or 30 Americans were buried in an 
open trench near Fort Paris. The sit- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



95 



uation is believed to liave been a few 
rods southeast of the present school- 
house. John Klock drew the bodies of 
Brown's men thither on a sled al- 
though there was no snow on the 
ground. They were buried side by 
side in the clothes in which they fell. 
Some others who were slain were in- 
terred elsewhere. 

Col. Brown was buried in the grave- 
yard near the Stone Arabia churches. 
Most of the Americans killed on this 
field were New England men, although 
local militiamen were also engaged. 
The loss of the enemy probably did 
not exceed half of the 40 or 45 pa- 
triots supposed to have been slain. On 
the anniversary of Col. John Brown's 
death in 1836, a monument was erect- 
ed over his grave by his son, Henry 
Brown, of Berkshire, Mass., bearing 
the following inscription: "In mem- 
ory of Col. John Brown, who was killed 
in battle on the 19th day of October, 
1780, at Palatine, in the county of 
Montgomery. Age 36." This event 
was made a great occasion and was 
largely attended, veterans of the Stone 
Arabia battle being present. It is men- 
tioned in a later chapter dealing with 
its period in Palatine. 



It is reported that the Schoharie mi- 
litia, engaged in this campaign, were 
short of knapsacks and carried their 
bread on poles, piercing each loaf and 
then spitting it on the sticks. 



After the Klock's Field battle some 
of McKean's volunteers came upon 
Fort Windecker, where nine of the 
enemy had been taken. On one of 
them being asked how he came there, 
his answer was a sharp commentary 
on the criminal inaction of General 
Van Rensselaer. The man, who was 
a valley Tory, said: "Last night, after 
the battle, we crossed the river; it was 
dark; we heard the words, 'lay down 
your arms,' and some of us did so. 
We were taken, nine of us, and march- 
ed into this little fort by seven mi- 
litiamen. We formed the rear of three 
hundred of Johnson's Greens, who 
were running promiscuously through 
and over one another. I thought Gen- 
eral Van Rensselaer's whole army was 
upon us. Why did you not take us 
prisoners yesterday, after Sir John 
ran off with the Indians and left us? 
We wanted to surrender." 



Col. John Brown was born in San- 
dersfield, Mass., in 1744. He was grad- 
uated at Yale college in 1771 and 
studied law. He commenced practise 
at Caughnawaga (Fonda) and was 
appointed King's attorney. He soon 
went to Pittsfleld, Mass., where he be- 
came active in the patriot cause and 
in 1775 went to Canada on a mission 
to try to get the people there to join 
the American cause. He was elected 
to congress in 1775 but joined Allen 
and Arnold's expedition against Ticon- 
deroga. He was at Fort Chambly and 
Quebec. In 1776 he was commissioned 
lieutenant-colonel. In 1777 he com- 
manded the expedition against Ticon- 
deroga and soon after left the service 
on account of his detestation of Ar- 
nold. Three years before the latter 
became a traitor Brown published a 
hand bill in which he denounced Ar- 
nold as a traitor and concluded: 
"Money is this man's god, and to get 
enough of it he would sacrifice his 
country." This was published in Al- 
bany in the winter of 1776-7, while 
Arnold was quartered there. Arnold 
was greatly excited over it and called 
Brown a scoundrel and threatened to 
kick him on sight. Brown heard of 
this and the next day, by invitation, 
went to dinner to which Arnold also 
came. The latter was standing with 
his back to the fire when Brown en- 
tered the door, and they met face to 
face. Brown said: "I understand, sir, 
that you have said you would kick me; 
I now present myself to give you an 
opportunity to put your threat into ex- 
ecution." Arnold made no reply. 
Brown then said: "Sir, you are a dirty 
scoundrel." Arnold was silent and 
Brown left the room, after apologizing 
to the gentlemen present for his in- 
trusion. Col. Brown, after he left the 
army, was occasionally in the Massa- 
chusetts service. In the fall of 1780, 
with many of the Berkshire militia, he 
marched up the Mohawk river, his 



96 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



force to be used for defense as re- 
quired. 

Brown is said to have been a man 
of medium height, of fine military 
bearing and with dark eyes. He gen- 
erally wore spectacles. His courage 
was proverbial among his men and in 
the Stone Arabia action seems to have 
run into recklessness, although, sol- 
dier that he was, he probably figured 
on holding the enemy at any cost until 
Van Rensselaer's large force could 
come up and, falling on the rear, 
crush them completely, which could 
have been readily accomplished by a 
skilful and determined commander. 
Col. Brown was immensely popular 
with his troops — with the militiamen 
from the valley as well as with the 
soldiers he commanded who were from 
his own state of Massachusetts. 



Governor George Clinton visited Fort 
Plain on at least two known occasions. 
The first was during the Klock's Field 
operations and the second was when 
he accompanied Washington through 
the Mohawk valley in 1783. Clinton 
was a brother of Gen. James Clinton 
and an uncle of Dewitt Clinton, later 
the famous "canal Governor." He was 
born in Ulster county in 1739. In 1768 
he was elected to the Colonial legisla- 
ture, and was a member of the Con- 
tinental congress in 1775. He was ap- 
pointed a brigadier in the United 
States army in 1776, and during the 
whole war was active in military af- 
fairs in New York. In April, 1777, he 
was elected governor and continued so 
for eighteen years. He was president 
of the convention assembled at Pough- 
keepsie to consider the federal con- 
stitution in 1788. He was again chosen 
governor of the state in 1801, and in 
1804. Afterward he was elected vice 
president of the United States and 
continued in that office until his death 
in Washington in 1812, aged 73 years. 



In the fall of 1780 and the spring of 
1781 the fortification of Fort Plain 
was strengthened by the erection of a 
strong blockhouse. It was situated 
about a hundred yards from the fort, 
commanding the steep northern side 



of the plateau on which both block- 
house and fort stood. The construc- 
tion was of pine timber, 8x14 inches 
square, dovetailed at the ends, and 
Thomas Morrel of Schenectady, father 
of Judge Abram Morrel of Johnstown, 
superintended its erection. It was oc- 
tagonal in shape and three stories in 
height, the second projecting five feet 
over the first, and the third five feet 
over the second, with portholes for 
cannon on the first floor, and for mus- 
ketry on all its surfaces; with holes in 
projecting floors for small arms, so as 
to fire down upon a closely approach- 
ing foe. The first story is said to have 
been 30 feet in diameter, the second 
40 and the third 50, making it look 
top heavy for a gale of wind. It 
mounted several cannon for signal 
guns and defense — one of which was a 
twelve-pounder — on the first floor. It 
stood upon a gentle elevation of sev- 
eral feet. This defense was not pali- 
saded, but a ditch or dry moat several 
feet deep extended around it. The 
land upon which both defenses stood 
was owned by Johannes Lipe during 
the Revolution. It is said it was 
built under the supervision of a French 
engineer employed by Col. Ganse- 
voort. The latter, by order of Gen. 
Clinton, had repaired to Fort Plain to 
take charge of a quantity of stores 
destined for Fort Schuyler, just prior 
to Brant's Minden raid of August 2, as 
we have seen. It was probably at this 
time its erection was planned. Ram- 
parts of logs were thrown up around 
the defenses at the time of the block- 
house erection. Some little time after 
this, doubts were expressed as to its 
being cannon-ball proof. A trial was 
made with a six-pounder placed at a 
proper distance. Its ball passed en- 
tirely through the blockhouse, crossed 
a broad ravine and buried itself in a 
hill on which the old parsonage stood, 
an eighth of a mile distant. This 
proved the inefliiciency of the building, 
and its strength was increased by lin- 
ing it with heavy planks. In order to 
form a protection against hot shot for 
the magazine, the garrison sta- 
tioned there in 1782 commenced throw- 
ing up a bank of earth around the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



97 



block-house. Rumors of peace and 
quiet that then prevailed in the val- 
ley, caused the work to cease. A rep- 
resentation of this blockhouse consti- 
tutes the seal of the village of Fort 
Plain. It was as much a part of the 
defensive works of Fort Plain as the 
stockaded fort and was of a more 
picturesque appearance and so was 
chosen for use on the seal, 
chosen for the seal. A slight eleva- 
tion marks its site at the present day 
1913). 
Fort Willett was begun in the fall 
of 1780 and finished in the spring of 
1781. 



There are extant few records of the 
garrisons which tenanted Fort Plain, 
for ten years or more, and also those 
of its adjoining posts. Some have been 
preserved by Simms and the gist of a 
few are here given: 

In the summer of 1780, Captain Put- 
man's company of rangers from Fort 
Plain started for Fort Herkimer. They 
stopped for the night at Fort Win- 
decker and Cobus M.abec of Fairfield, 
was put on picket duty for the night 
outside the post. About midnight the 
guard saw a savage stealing up be- 
hind a rail fence. He deftly slipped 
his hat and coat over a stump and 
dropped down behind a nearby log and 
waited. The Indian came very near 
and at a short distance fired at the 
dummy man, drew his tomahawk and 
rushed up. But before he could sink 
it in the stump, Mabee shot him dead. 
The garrison, half dressed, rushed to 
arms and found their comrade had 
bagged a remarkably large Indian. As 
showing the crudity of the times, it is 
said the corpse lay unburied near the 
fort for some time and was made the 
butt of Indian play by the boys of Fort 
Windecker. 

In the summer of 1780 the enemy 
was reported to be in the vicinity of 
Otsego lake and Capt. Putman led his 
company of rangers from Fort Plain 
to the lake, accompanied by a company 
of militia under Maj. Coapman, a Jer- 
seyman. The route was from Fort 
Plain to Cherry Valley and from there 
to Otsego lake. Finding no signs of 



an enemy a return march was made to 
Cherry Valley and from there to the 
Mohawk. On the way back an argu- 
ment arose as to relative physical su- 
periority of the rangers or scouts and 
the militia. To prove which was the 
better set of men, a race was proposed 
to Garlock's tavern on Bowman (Cana- 
joharie) creek. Major Coapman and 
Captain Putman were both heavy men 
and did not last long in the race of five 
or six miles, which soon started be- 
tween the two rival companies. Put- 
man's scouts were victorious and three 
of them, John Eikler, Jacob Shew and 
Isaac Quackenboss (a "lean man") dis- 
tanced the militiamen and reached 
Garlock's pretty well played out. The 
soldiers were strung along the high- 
way for miles in this run. "After the 
men had all assembled at the tavern, 
taken refreshments and the bill had 
been footed by Major Coapman, the 
pai'ty returned leisurely and in order 
to Fort Plain." It is a significant com- 
ment on the hardihood of the Revolu- 
tionary soldiers that they should find 
excitement in a five-mile run over a 
rough highway carrying their guns 
and packs. 

Under date of April 3, 1780, Col. 
Visscher writes to Col. Goshen Van 
Schaick to order "some rum and am- 
munition for my regiment of militia 
[then stationed mostly in the Mo- 
hawk valley posts from Fort Johnson 
westward], being very necessary as 
the men are dally scouting." 



A story is told of Fort Klock, in the 
present town of St. Johnsville, and 
near where the battle between Brant 
and Johnson's forces and Van Rens- 
selaer's troops was fought. It prob- 
ably relates to the time of this action 
although no date is given. A grand- 
father of Peter Crouse was one of the 
garrison of Fort Klock. Seeing a party 
of mounted English troopers passing, 
the militiaman remarked that he 
thought he could "hit one of those fel- 
lows on horseback." Taking careful 
aim he shot a British officer out of his 
saddle, and his frightened horse ran 
directly up to Fort Klock, where 
Crouse secured him. A number of 



08 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



camp trappings were fastened to the 
sad(Jle, among which was a brass ket- 
tle. These articles became famous 
heirlooms in the Grouse family. 



Elias Krepp, an old bachelor, was 
the miller of the grist mill erected by 
Sir William Johnson, in the then Tille- 
borough at the now village of Ephra- 
tah. In 1780 a party of raiders burned 
the mill and took Krepp to Canada. 
After the war he returned and, with 
George Getman, went to the ruined 
mill and, from its walls, removed sev- 
eral hundred dollars in gold and silver 
which he had there hidden for safety. 



The Sacandaga blockhouse (built 
1779) was located two miles southeast 
of Mayfield and was a refuge for the 
few scattered families of the neigh- 
borhood and to defend Johnstown 
from surprise by way of the Sacan- 
daga, a favorite route to the Mohawk 
for Canadian invaders. Its garrison 
being withdrawn, it was attacked by 
seven Indians in April, 1780, and suc- 
cessfully defended by one man, Wood- 
worth, who, though slightly wounded, 
fought them off and put out fires they 
kindled. The savages fled to the forest 
and were followed by Woodworth and 
six militiamen on snowshoes a day or 
two later. The Americans came up 
with the savages and killed five of the 
party, returning with their packs and 
guns. 



The chief national events of the year 
1780 are summarized as follows: 1780, 
May 12, capture of Charleston, S. C, 
by British; 1780, August 16, American 
army under Gates defeated at Cam- 
den, S. C; 1780, Sept. 23, capture of 
Major Andre of the British army by 
three Continental soldiers, Paulding, 
Williams and Van Wart, and subse- 
quent disclosure of Arnold's treason, 
following his flight from his post at 
West Point on the Hudson. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
1781— June, Col. Willett, Appointed 
Commander of Mohawk Valley Posts, 
Makes Fort Plain His Headquarters 
— Dreadful Tryon County Conditions 
— July 9, Currytown Raid — July 10, 
American Victory at Sharon — Fort 
Schuyler Abandoned. 

Of the conditions in the Mohawk 
country at the opening of 1781, Beer's 
History of Montgomery County has 
the following: 

"Gloomy indeed was the prospect at 
this time in the Mohawk valley. Deso- 
lation and destitution were on every 
side. Of an abundant harvest almost 
nothing remained. The Cherry Valley, 
Harpersfield, and all other settlements 
toward the headwaters of the Susque- 
hanna, had been entirely deserted for 
localities of greater safety. Some idea 
of the lamentable condition of other 
communities in Tryon county may be 
obtained from a statement addressed 
to the legislature, December 20, 1780, 
by the supervisors of the county. In 
that document it was estimated that 
700 buildings had been burned in the 
county; 613 persons had deserted to 
the enemy; 354 families had abandon- 
ed their dwellings; 197 lives had been 
lost; 121 persons had been carried 
into captivity, and hundreds of farms 
lay uncultivated by reason of the 
enemy. 

"Nor were the terrible sufferings in- 
dicated by these statistics, mitigated 
by a brighter prospect. Before the 
winter was past, Brant was again 
hovering about with predatory bands 
to destroy what little property re- 
mained. Since the Oneidas had been 
driven from their country, the path of 
the enemy into the valley was ilmost 
unobstructed. It was with difTiculty 
that supplies could be conveyed to 
Forts Plain and Dayton without being 
captured, and transportation to Fort 
Schuyler was of course far more haz- 
ardous. The militia had been greatly 
diminished and the people dispirited 
by repeated invasions, and the de- 
struction of their property; and yet 
what information could be obtained 
indicated that another incursion 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



99 



might be looked for to sweep perhaps 
the whole extent of the valley, con- 
temporaneously with a movement from 
the north toward Albany. Port 
Schuyler was so much injured by 
flood and fire in the spring of 1781, 
that it was abandoned, the garrison 
retiring to the lower posts; and all the 
upper part of the valley was left open 
to the savages. [The Fort Schuyler 
troops went to Forts Dayton, Herki- 
mer and Fort Plain.] 

"Gov. Clinton was greatly pained by 
the gloomy outlook and knowing that 
Col. Willett was exceedingly popular 
in the valley, earnestly solicited his 
services in this quarter. Willett had 
just been appointed to the command 
of one of the two new regiments form- 
ed by the consolidation of the rem- 
nants of five New York regiments, 
and it was with reluctance that he left 
the main army for so difficult and 
harassing an undertaking as the de- 
fense of the Mohawk region. The 
spirit of the people, at this time lower 
than at any other during the long 
struggle, began to revive when Col. 
Willett appeared among them. It was in 
June that he repaired to Tryon county 
to take charge of the militia levies and 
state troops that he might be able to 
collect. In the letter to Gov. Clinton 
making known the weakness of his 
command. Col. Willett said: 'I con- 
fess myself not a little disappointed in 
having such a trifling force for such 
extensive business as I have on my 
hands; and also that nothing is done 
to enable me to avail myself of the 
militia. The prospect of a suffering 
county hurts me. Upon my own ac- 
count I am not uneasy. Everything I 
can do shall be done, and more cannot 
be looked for. If it is, the reflection 
that I have done my duty must fix my 
own tranquility.' " Willett made his 
headquarters at Fort Plain, which con- 
tinued to be the valley headquarters 
during the rest of the war. He had 
not been long at Fort Plain before his 
soldierly qualities and great ability as 
a commander were brought into play. 
Willett came to his valley headquar- 
ters in June and, in a month's time. 



occurred the first raid he had to com- 
bat — that led by Dockstader. 

The following is largely written from 
Simms's account of the Currytown in- 
vasion and Sharon Springs battle: 

1781, July 9, 500 Indians and Tories 
entered the town of Root on one of the 
raids that devastated Montgomery 
county the latter years of the war. 
Their commander was Capt. John 
Dockstader, a Tory who had gone 
from the Mohawk country to Canada. 
The settlement of Currytown (named 
after William Corry, the patentee of 
the lands thereabout) was the first 
objective of these marauders. Here a 
small block-house had been erected, 
near the dwelling of Henry Lewis, and 
surrounded with a palisade. At about 
ten in the morning the enemy entered 
the settlement. Jacob Dievendorf, a 
pioneer settler, was at work in the 
field with his two sons, Frederick and 
Jacob and a negro boy named Jacobus 
Blood. The last two were captured 
and Frederick, a boy of 14, ran toward 
the fort but was overtaken, toma- 
hawked and scalped. Mrs. Dieven- 
dorf, in spite of being a fleshy woman, 
made for the fort with several girl 
children and half a dozen slaves and 
reached it in safety, on the way break- 
ing down a fence by her weight in 
climbing over. Peter Bellinger, a 
brother of Mrs. Dievendorf, was plow- 
ing and hearing the alarm, unhitched 
a plow horse and, mounting it, rode 
for the Mohawk and escaped although 
pursued by several Indians. Rudolf 
Keller and his wife happened to be at 
the fort, when the enemy appeared; 
Keller, Henry Lewis and Conrad En- 
ders being the only men in the block- 
house at that time. Frederick Lewis and 
Henry Lewis jr. were the first to 
reach the fort after the invaders' ap- 
pearance. Frederick Lewis fired three 
successive guns to warn the settlers of 
danger and several, taking the warn- 
ing, escaped safely to the forest. 
Philip Bellinger thus escaped but was 
severely wounded and died with 
friends shortly after. Rudolf Keller's 
oldest son, seeing the enemy approach, 
ran home and hurried the rest of the 
family to the woods, the Indians en- 



100 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



tering the Keller house just as the 
fugitives disappeared into the forest. 
Jacob Tanner and his family were 
among the last to reach the block- 
house. On seeing the Indians coming, 
Tanner fled from his house, with his 
gun in one hand and a small child in 
his other arm, followed by his wife 
with an infant in her arms and several 
children running by her side holding 
onto her skirts. Several redmen with 
uplifted tomahawks chased the Tan- 
ner family toward the fort. Finding 
that they could not overtake them, one 
of the Indians fired at Tanner, the ball 
passing just over the child's head he 
carried and entering a picket of the 
fort. The defenders fired several shots 
at the savages and the fleeing family 
entered the block-house safely. 

The Indians plundered and burned 
all the buildings in the settlement, a 
dozen or more, except the house of 
David Lewis. Lewis was a Tory and, 
although his house was set on Are,, an 
Indian chief, with whom he was ac- 
quainted, gave him permission to put 
it out when they were gone. Jacob 
Moyer and his father, who were cut- 
ting timber in the woods not far from 
Yates, were found dead and scalped, 
one at each end of the log. They were 
killed by the party who pursued Peter 
Bellinger. 

The lad, Frederick Dievendorf, after 
lying insensible for several hours, re- 
covered and crawled toward the fort. 
He was seen by his uncle, Keller, 
who went out to meet him. As he ap- 
proached, the lad, whose clothes were 
dyed in his own blood, still bewildered, 
raised his hands imploringly and be- 
sought his uncle not to kill him. Kel- 
ler took him up in his arms and car- 
ried him to the fort. His wounds were 
properly dressed and he recovered, but 
was killed several years after by a 
falling tree. Jacob Dievendorf senior, 
fled before the Indians, on their ap- 
proach and, in his flight, ran past a 
prisoner named James Butterfleld, and 
at a little distance farther on hid him- 
self under a fallen tree. His pur- 
suers enquired of Butterfleld what di- 
rection he had taken. "That way," said 
the prisoner, pointing in a different di- 



rection. Although several Indians 
passed by the fallen tree Dievendorf 
remained undiscovered. 

An old man named Putman, cap- 
tured at this time, was too infirm to 
keep up with the enemy and was killed 
and scalped not far from his home. 

The Currytown captives taken 
along by the enemy were Jacob Diev- 
endorf jr., the negro Jacob, Christian 
and Andrew Bellinger, sons of Fred- 
erick Bellinger, and a little girl named 
Miller, ten or twelve years old. Chris- 
tian Bellinger had been in the nine 
month [militia] service. He was cap- 
tpred on going to get a span of horses, 
at which time he heard an alarm gun 
fired at Fort Plain. The horses were 
hobbled together and the Indians, with 
a bark rope, had tied the hobble to a 
tree in a favorable place to capture the 
one who came for them, who chanced 
to be young Bellinger. His brother 
(Andrew) was taken so young and 
kept so long — to the end of the war — 
and was so pleased with Indian life, 
that Christian had to go a third time 
to get him to return with him. Michael 
Stowitts (son of Philip G. P. Stowitts, 
who was killed on the patriot side in 
the Oriskany battle) was made a pris- 
oner on the Stowitts farm, and is cred- 
ited with having given the invaders an 
exaggerated account of the strength 
defending the fort, which possibly pre- 
vented its capture; but it is well 
known that even small defenses were 
avoided by the enemy, who did not like 
exposure to certain death. 

On the morning of the same day of 
the Currytown raid (1781, July 9) Col. 
Willett sent out, from Fort Plain, Capt. 
Lawrence Gros with a scouting party 
of 40 men. Their mission had the 
double object of scouting for the enemy 
and provisions. Knowing that the set- 
tlements of New Dorlach and New 
Rhinebeck were inhabited mostly by 
Tories and that he might get a few 
beeves there, Gros led his men in that 
direction. Near the former home of 
one Baxter, he struck the trail of the 
enemy and estimated their number 
from their footprints at 500 men at 
least. Gros sent two scouts to follow 
the enemy and then marched his 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



101 



squad to Bowman's (Canajoharie) 
creek to await their report. The 
scouts came upon the enemy's camp 
of the night before after going about a 
mile. A few Indians were seen cook- 
ing food at the fires — making prepar- 
ations, as the Americans supposed, for 
the return of their comrades who had 
gone to destroy Currytown. The two 
rangers returned quickly to Gros and 
reported their find, and the captain 
dispatched John Young and another 
man, both mounted, on a gallop to Fort 
Plain to inform Col. Willett. The com- 
mandant sent a messenger to Lieut. 
Col. Vedder, at Fort Paris, with or- 
ders to collect all troops possible, at 
his post and elsewhere, and to make a 
rapid march to the enemy's camp. 
Col. Willett detailed all the garrison 
of Fort Plain he could, with safety de- 
tach from that post, for the field. In 
addition he collected what militia he 
could from the neighborhood and set 
out. Passing Fort Clyde in Freys- 
hush, Willett drafted into his ranks 
what men could there be spared and 
about midnight he joined Capt. Gros 
at Bowman's creek. The American 
force numbered 260 men, many of whom 
were militia. Col. Willett's battalion 
set out and, at daybreak, reached the 
enemy's camp, which was in a cedar 
swamp on the north side of the west- 
ern turnpike, near the center of the 
present town of Sharon and about two 
miles east of Sharon Springs. This 
camp was on the highest ground of 
the swamp, only a few rods from the 
turnpike. On the south side of the 
road, a ridge of land may be seen and 
still south of that a small valley. By 
a roundabout march, Willett reached 
this little dale and there drew up his 
force in a half-circle formation. The 
men were instructed to take trees or 
fallen logs and not to leave them and 
to reserve their fire until they had a 
fair shot. 

The enemy was double the number 
of the patriot force and stratagem was 
resorted to by the Fort Plain com- 
mandant. He sent several men over 
the ridge to show themselvesi fire 
upon the raiders and then flee, draw- 
ing the foe toward the American 



ranks. This ruse completely suc- 
ceeded and the entire Tory and Indian 
band snatched up their weapons and 
chased the American skirmishers who 
fled toward Willett's ambuscade, Fred- 
erick Bellinger being overtaken and 
killed. The enemy was greeted with 
a deadly fire from the hidden soldiers 
and a fierce tree to tree fight began 
which lasted for two hours until the 
Tories and Indians, badly punished, 
broke and fied. John Strobeck, who 
was a private in Captain Gros's com- 
pany and in the hottest part of the 
fight, said afterwards that "the In- 
dians got tired of us and made 
off." Strobeck was wounded in the 
hip. During the battle, from a bass- 
wood stump, several shots were fired 
with telling effect at the patriots. 
William H. Seeber rested his rifle on 
the shoulder of Henry Failing and 
gave the hollow stump a centre shot, 
after which fire from that quarter 
ceased. About this time, it is said, 
the enemy were recovering from their 
first panic, learning they so greatly 
outnumbered the Continental force. A 
story is told that Col. Willett, seeing 
the foe gaining confidence shouted in 
a loud voice, "My men, stand your 
ground and I'll bring up the levies 
and we'll surround the damned ras- 
cals!" The enemy hearing this, and 
expecting to be captured or slain by 
an increased American body, turned 
and ran. In the pursuit Seeber and 
Failing reached the stump the former 
had hit and found it was hollow. See- 
ing a pool of blood on the ground. 
Col. Willett observed: "One that stood 
behind that stump will never get back 
to Canada." 

The enemy, in their retreat, were 
hotly pursued by the Americans, led 
by Col. Willett in person and so com- 
plete was the defeat of the raiders 
that Willett's men captured most of 
their camp equipage and plunder ob- 
tained the day before in the Curry- 
town raid. Most of the cattle and 
horses the raiders had taken found 
their way back to that settlement. 
Col. Willett continued the pursuit but 
a short distance, fearing that he might 
himself fall into a snare similar to 



102 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the one he had so successfullj'^ set for 
the enemy. The American force re- 
turned victorious to Fort Plain, imme- 
diately after the battle, bearing with 
them their wounded. Their loss of 
live killed and about the same number 
wounded was small and due to their 
protected position and the surprise 
they sprang on their foe. 

The Indians, in their retreat from 
Sharon, crossed the west creek in New 
Dorlach (near the former Col. Rice 
residence) and made for the Susque- 
hanna. The loss of the enemy was 
very severe — about 50 killed and 
wounded — and Dockstader is said to 
have returned to Canada (after one 
other engagement) with his force 
"greatly reduced." Two of the enemy 
carried a wounded comrade, on a 
blanket between two poles, all the way 
to the Genesee valley, where he died. 

Five of AVillett's men were killed, 
including Capt. McKean, a brave and 
efficient officer. He was taken to Van 
Alstine's fortified house at Canajo- 
harie, which was on the then road 
from New Dorlach to Fort Plain, and 
died there the following day, after 
which he was buried in "soldier's 
ground" at Fort Plain; which was 
probably the burial plot about one 
hundred yards west of that post, re- 
mains of which are still to be seen. 
On the completion of the blockhouse, 
McKean's body was reburied on 
the brink of the hill in front of this 
fortification with military honors. 

Among the wounded was a son of 
Capt. McKean, who was shot in the 
mouth. Jacob Radnour received a 
bullet in his right thigh which he 
carried to his grave. Like that Sir 
William Johnson got at Lake George, 
it gradually settled several inches and 
made him very lame. Hon. Garrett 
Dunckel was woimded in the head, "a 
ball passing in at the right eye and 
coming out back of the ear." Nicho- 
las Yerdon was wounded in the right 
wrist, which caused the hand to shrivel 
and become useless. Adam Strobeck's 
wound in the hip has been mentioned. 
All three of the latter came from 
Freysbush and Radnour, Dunckel and 
Yerdon were in the Oriskany battle. 



where Radnour and Yerdon were 
wounded. All these wounded were 
borne on litters back to Fort Plain and 
all recovered. 

Finding their force defeated and 
having to abandon their prisoners in 
the tiight, the Indians guarding them 
tomahawked and scalped all except 
the Bellinger boys and Butterfield. 
The killed at this time included a 
German named Carl Herwagen, who 
had been captured by the enemy on 
their return from Currytown to their 
camp the previous evening. 

After the battle was over Lieut.- 
Col. Veeder arrived from Fort Paris 
with a company of 100 men, mostly 
from Stone Arabia. He buried the 
Americans killed in battle and fortu- 
nately found and interred the priso- 
ners who were murdered and scalped 
near the enemy's former camp. The 
Dievendorf boy, who had been scalped, 
was found alive half buried among the 
dead leaves, with which he had covered 
himself to keep off mosquitoes and 
flies from his bloody head. One of 
Veeder's men, thinking him a wounded 
Indian, on account of his gory face, 
leveled his gun to shoot but it was 
knocked up by a fellow soldier, and 
the Currytown boy's life was spared 
for almost four-score years more. 
Young Dievendorf and the little Mil- 
ler girl, also found alive, were tenderly 
taken back to Fort Plain, but the lat- 
ter died on the way. Doctor Faught, 
a German physician of Stone Arabia, 
tended the wounds of both Jacob 
Dievendorf and his brother Frederick 
Dievendorf and both recovered. Jacob 
Dievendorf's scalped head was five 
years in healing. He became one of 
the wealthiest farmers of Montgomery 
county and died Oct. 8, 1859, over 
seventy-eight years after his terrible 
experience of being scalped and left 
for dead by his red captors on the 
bloody field of Sharon. 

The battle of Sharon was fought, al- 
most entirely, by men froin the pres- 
ent limits of the town of Minden — the 
Fort Plain garrison, with additions 
from that of Fort Clyde, and the Min- 
den militia. Some of the soldiers doubt- 
less came from Forts AVillett, Win- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



103 



decker and Plank. The Fort Paris 
company, as seen, did not get up in 
time to flght. The list of the Ameri- 
cans wounded at Sharon would indi- 
cate that the greater part of Willett's 
battalion were local men. Probably 
the men of the Mohawk formed a large 
percentage of the valley garrisons of 
that time. There was then little for 
the men of the Mohawk to do but to 
guard and flght and, between times, to 
till the fields which were not too ex- 
posed to the enemy's ravages. A con- 
siderable population must have clus- 
tered in and about the principal forts 
for protection. 



Col. Marinus Willett, who made his 
headquarters at Fort Plain for the last 
three years of the war and who was 
connected with so many of the valley 
military operations and almost all the 
patriot successes in the valley, de- 
serves mention here. He was a sol- 
dier of the highest qualifications, great 
courage and daring, a clever and fear- 
less woodsman and an intrepid fighter 
in the open field. His quick, powerful, 
decisive blows, such as at Johnstown 
and Sharon Springs, conspired to end 
the raids from Canada which had de- 
vastated the valley. Marinus Willett 
was born in Jamaica, Long Island, in 
1740, the youngest of six sons of Ed- 
ward Willett, a Queens county farmer. 
In 1758 he joined the army, under 
Abercrombie, as a lieutenant in Col. 
Delaney's regiment. Exposure in the 
wilderness caused a sickness which 
confined him in Fort Stanwix until the 
end of the campaign. Willett early 
joined the Whigs, in the contest 
against British aggression. When the 
British troops in New York were or- 
dered to Boston, after the skirmish at 
Lexington in 1775, they attempted to 
carry off a large quantity of spare 
arms in addition to their own. Willett 
resolved to prevent it and, although 
opposed by the mayor and other 
Whigs, he captured the baggage 
wagons containing the weapons, etc., 
and took them back to the city. These 
arms were afterwards used by the first 
regiment raised by the state of New 
York. He was appointed second cap- 



tain of a company in McDougal's regi- 
ment and accompanied Montgomery's 
futile expedition against Quebec. He 
commanded St. John's until 1776. He 
was appointed lieutenant-colonel in 
1777 and commanded Fort Constitu- 
tion on the Hudson. In May he was 
ordered to Fort Stanwix, recently 
named Fort Schuyler, where he did 
such signal service. He was left in 
command of that fort where he re- 
mained until 1778, when he joined the 
army under Washington and fought 
with him at Monmouth. He accom- 
panied Sullivan in his campaign 
against the Indians in 1779. Col. Wil- 
lett was actively engaged in the Mo- 
hawk valley in 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783. So 
he spent at least four or five years 
in military service in the Mohawk val- 
ley. Washington sent him to treat 
with the Creek Indians in Florida in 
1792 and the same year he was ap- 
pointed a brigadier-general in the 
army which was intended to act 
against the northwestern Indians. He 
declined this appointment, being op- 
posed to the expedition. Col. Willett 
was for some time sheriff and in 1807 
was elected Mayor of New York city. 
He was president of the electoral col- 
lege in 1824 and died in New York 
August 23, 1830, in the 91st year of 
his age. A portrait of Col. Willett 
hangs, among those of other former 
mayors, in the City Hall in New York 
and shows a face of much intelligence, 
power and forceful initiative. Marinus 
Willett was one of the men of iron 
who made the American republic pos- 
sible. There are few natural leaders 
and he was one. Simms says Willett 
was a "large man." He was a direct 
descendant of Thomas Willett, who 
was a man of great ability and influ- 
ence in the early years of New York 
province, and who was the first mayor 
of New York city after the Dutch 
rule, being appointed by Gov. Nicolls 
in 1665. Col. Marinus Willett had a 
natural son by a Fort Plain woman. 
This son he cared for and educated 
and later, when the son was a grown 
man, he returned to his birthplace and 
lived here and hereabouts for several 
years. 



104 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



The following, concerning Willett, is 
taken from "New York in the Revo- 
lution:" 

"Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Colonel and Acting Brigadier Marinus 
Willett was a gallant officer. He held 
many commands and his promotion 
was rapid. In 1775-6 he was captain 
in Col. Alexander McDougal's regi- 
ment, 1st N. y. Line. On April 27, 1776, 
the Provincial Congress recommended 
him to the Continental Congress for 
major of the same regiment. In No- 
vember of the same year he was rec- 
ommended for lieutenant-colonel of 
the 3d Line [regiment] and in July, 
1780, he was made lieutenant-colonel 
commandant of the 5th regiment of 
the line. In 1781 as lieutenant-colonel 
he commanded a regiment of levies 
[men drafted into military service] 
and in 1782 was made full colonel of 
still another regiment of levies. After 
the death of General Nicholas Herki- 
mer, Colonel Willett commanded the 
Tryon County militia as acting briga- 
dier-general." The regiment of levies, 
which Willett commanded in 1781 and 
which engaged in the Sharon and 
Johnstown battles, is mentioned in a 
later chapter dealing briefly with the 
Tryon county troops. It numbered 
1008 soldiers, was largely composed of 
Mohawk river men, and probably form- 
ed all or part of the valley garrisons 
of the time when Fort Plain was the 
military headquarters of this section. 



At German Hats. 1781, were several 
encounters. One of them was mark- 
ed by great bravery on the part of 
Captain Solomon Woodworth and a 
small party of rangers which he orga- 
nized. He marched from Fort Dayton 
to the Royal Grant for the purpose of 
observation. On the way he fell into 
an Indian ambush. One of the most 
desperate and bloody skirmishes of 
the war hereabouts then ensued. 
Woodworth and a large number of his 
scouts were slain. This was the same 
Woodworth who so valiantly defended 
the Sacandaga blockhouse, as told in 
a previous chapter. His company as- 
sembled at Fort Plain only a few days 
previous to the fatal action, which 



took place at Fairfield. Some of his 
men were recruited from soldiers of 
the Fort Plain garrison whose time 
was soon to expire. 

In this year also occurred the heroic 
defense by Christian Schell of his 
blockhouse home about five miles 
north of Herkimer village. Sixty 
Tories and Indians under Donald Mc- 
Donald, a Tory formerly of Johnstown, 
attacked the place, most of the people 
fleeing to P'ort Dayton. Schell had 
eight sons and two of them were cap- 
tured in the fields while the old man 
ran safely home and with his other six 
sons and Mrs. Schell nade a successful 
defense. They captured McDonald 
wounded. The enemy drew off having 
11 killed and 15 wounded. Schell and 
one of his boys were killed by Indians 
in his fields a little later. 



Early in May, 1781, high water from 
the Mohawk destroyed a quantity of 
stores in Fort Schuyler. On May 12 
this post was partially destroyed by 
fire. The soldiers were playing ball 
a little distance away and pretty much 
everything was burned except the pal- 
isade and the bombproof, which was 
saved by throwing dirt on it. This fire 
has been said to have been of incen- 
diary origin having been started by a 
soldier of secret Tory sentiments. 
Samuel Pettit, who was then one of the 
garrison, in his old age, told Simms 
that the fire originated from charcoal 
used to repair arms in the armory. 
The post was abandoned and the 
troops marched down the Forts Day- 
ton and Herkimer, which became now 
the most advanced posts on this fron- 
tier. Some of the Fort Schuyler gar- 
rison are said to have been removed 
to Fort Plain. After the abandonment 
of Fort Schuyler the principal Mohawk 
valley posts of Tryon county were, in 
their order from west to east, as fol- 
lows: Fort Dayton (at present Her- 
kimer), Fort Herkimer (at present 
German Flats), Fort Plain, Fort Paris 
(at Stone Arabia), Fort Johnstown, 
Fort Hunter. Fort Plain's central po- 
sition probably influenced its selection 
as the valley American army head- 
quarters. 



THE STORY OV OLD FORT PLAIN 



105 



Simms says that, in the spring of 
1781, Col. Livingston, with his regi- 
ment of New York troops marched up 
the Mohawk valley to Fort Plain. No 
mention is made of further disposition 
of the troops, however. Possibly, these 
may have been part of "the reinforce- 
ments lately ordered northward" re- 
ferred to by Gen. Washington in his 
letter of June 5, 1781, to Gov. Clinton. 
Washington advocated the concentra- 
tion of these troops "on the Hudson 
and Mohawk rivers." 



In the summer of 1781 Col. Willett 
went with a scouting party from Fort 
Plain to Fort Herkimer and on his re- 
turn stopped at the Herkimer house. 
Here then lived Capt. George Herki- 
mer, brother of the deceased General, 
who had succeeded to the Fall Hill 
estate. At this time a small body of 
Indians was seen in the woods above 
the house and Mrs. Herkimer went to 
the front door and stepped up on a 
seat on the stoop and, with her arm 
around the northwest post, she blew 
an alarm for her husband who with 
several slaves was hoeing corn on the 
flats near the river. . Col. Willett came 
to the door and seeing the woman's 
exposed position shouted, "Woman, 
for God's sake, come in or you'll be 
shot!" He seized hold of Mrs. Herki- 
mer's dress and pulled her inside the 
house and almost the instant she 
stepped from the seat to the floor a 
rifle ball entered the post — instead of 
her head — leaving a hole long visible. 
It is presumed that Willett's men 
quickly drove off the enemy as Cap- 
tain Herkimer was not harmed. 



In July, 1781, a party of 12 Indians 
made a foray in the Palatine district 
and captured five persons, on the 
Shults farm two miles north of the 
Stone Arabia churches. Three sons 
of John Shults — Henry, William and 
John junior, a lad named Felder Wolfe 
and a negro slave called Joseph went 
to a field to mow, carrying their guns 
and stacking them on the edge of the 
field, skirted on one side by thick 
woods. From this cover the Indians 
sprang out, secured the firearms, cap- 



tured the harvesters and took them 
all prisoners to Canada. Upon the 
mowers not returning, people from the 
farm went to the field and found their 
scythes, but the guns were missing. 
These were the only evidences that 
the harvesters had been made priso- 
ners. They remained in Canada until 
the end of the war. 



CHAPTER XX. 

1781— Oct. 24, Ross and Butler's Tory 
and Indian Raid in Montgomery and 
Fulton Counties — Oct. 25, American 
Victory at Johnstown — Willett's Pur- 
suit, Killing of Walter Butler and 
Defeat of the Enemy at West Can- 
ada Creek — Rejoicing in the Mohawk 
Valley — Johnstown, the County Seat, 
at the Time of the Hall Battle, 1781. 

Small guerilla parties continued to 
lurk around the frontier settlements 
during the remainder of the summer 
and early autumn of 1781. The vigi- 
lance of Col. Willett's scouts prevented 
their doing any great damage. The 
Tories, however, had lost none of their 
animosity against their former neigh- 
bors in the Mohawk valley, and in the 
late autumn of this year again took 
the field. 

In October, 1781, occurred the last 
great raid, which took place during 
the war in the limits of western Mont- 
gomery or within present Montgom- 
ery and Fulton counties. The invad- 
ers were so severely punished by the 
valley troops under Willett, that it 
had a deterrent effect upon their fur- 
ther enterprises of this kind, at least 
in the neighborhood of Willett's head- 
quarters at Fort Plain. 

This last local foray was commanded 
by Major Ross and Walter Butler and 
consisted of 700 Tories and Indians 
and British, regulars. Ross was after- 
ward in command of the British fort 
at Oswego, when Capt. Thompson 
came from Fort Plain bearing to the 
enemy news of an armistice between 
England and the United States. Of 
this interesting journey, mention is 
made in a following chapter. Oct. 24, 
1781, the enemy broke in upon the Mo- 
hawk settlements from the direction of 



106 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the Susquehanna, at Currytown, where 
they had so ravaged the country a few 
months earlier. They burned no 
buildings as they did not wish their 
presence yet known to the neighboring 
militia. That same morning a scout- 
ing party went from Fort Plain to- 
wards Sharon Springs, there separat- 
ing, all of them returning to their post 
except Jacob Tanner and Frederick 
Ottman, who set out for Currytown 
where Tanner wished to visit his 
family. Near Argusville they came in 
touch with the enemy, who were ap- 
proaching the Mohawk by the south- 
west route. The two American scouts 
ran down Flat creek and, throwing 
away their guns and knapsacks, es- 
caped and spread the alarm. At the 
Putman place (Willow Basin, in the 
town of Root below the Nose), they 
came upon a funeral party attending 
services over the remains of Frederick 
Putman, who had been killed by the 
enemy while hunting martin up Yates- 
ville creek. Thus warned, the party 
broke up and its members fled for 
safety and to warn others. 

The enemy in force, to the number 
of 700, went from Argusville to Curry- 
town, plundering houses on their way 
but avoiding the little fort at that 
place. From Currytown they made 
for the Mohawk and there came upon 
and captured the two scouts. Tanner 
and Ottman, Rudolf Keller and his 
wife, Michael Stowitts and Jacob 
Myers, all returning from the Putman 
funeral, and later took John Lewis 
near the river. Mrs. Keller was left 
near Yatesville (now Randall) by the 
intercession of a Tory nephew. Half 
a dozen other women just previously 
taken were also left here, among them 
Mrs. Adam Fine and a girl named 
Moyer. The invaders after this did 
not encumber themselves with any 
more women prisoners on this raid. 
Myers was an old man and, on the 
forced and terrible march which fol- 
lowed the Tory defeat at Johnstown, 
he could not keep up with the party 
and was killed and scalped. 

Leaving the Yatesville neighbor- 
hood. Major Ross led his party on the 
south side down the Mohawk, taking 



the new road recently laid over Stone 
Ridge, into the present town of Glen. 
On the ridge, they came at twilight to 
the Wood home, and took there John 
Wood captive. Here Joseph Printup, 
a lieutenant of militia, was at his son's 
(William L Printup) house, as were 
also Jacob Frank, John Loucks and 
John Van Alstyne, neighbors. Printup 
had been cleaning his gun and, as he 
reloaded it, said: "Now I'm ready for 
the Indians." Almost at the same in- 
stant the advance party was seen ap- 
proaching the house. Frank and 
Loucks ran for the woods, Loucks be- 
ing shot down and scalped and Frank 
escaping. Printup fired on the ad- 
vance party. An Indian put his gun 
to the patriot's breast, but a Tory 
friend of Printup's, with the Indians, 
struck the gun down and the Whig 
lieutenant was hit in the thigh. The 
Tory interfered and saved Printup's 
life and then he was made a pris- 
oner. Several times, during the fol- 
lowing march the lieutenant was 
saved from the Indians' tomahawks by 
his friend of the enemy. Printup suf- 
fered agonies on the w.ay but finally 
got to Johnstown, where an old Scotch 
woman, Mrs. Van Sickler (probably 
the wife of Johnstown's first black- 
smith and also Sir William's), inter- 
ceded for him and he was left at her 
house. From here he returned to 
Stone Ridge and was finally cured of 
his wounds. At the time of his cap- 
ture Van Alstyne was also made pris- 
oner and he helped Printup along the 
road. According to the Indian cus- 
tom, had he not been able to keep up, 
he would have been at once scalped 
and killed. 

Jacob, a brother of the former Van 
Alstyne, was taken shortly after as 
was Evert Van Epps. John C, a son 
of Charles Van Epps, spread the 
alarm on horseback down the river, 
and the inhabitants fled to safety 
in the woods. At Auriesville Printup 
told John Van Alstyne to escape if he 
could and the latter promptly ran for 
liberty up the ravine. The enemy con- 
tinued on to Yankee Hill, in the town 
of Florida, fording the Schoharie at 
its mouth. Captain Snook sent Con- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT i'LAIN 



107 



rad Stein to warn the settlers here- 
abouts, who mostly escaped. 

On the morning of October 25, 1781, 
the invading party broke camp, forded 
the Mohawk, entered the town of Am- 
sterdam and headed for Johnstown, 
small parties of Indians meanwhile 
raiding the country in every direc- 
tion. Houses were burned belonging 
to farmers by the name of Wart, 
Henry Rury, Captain Snook, John 
Stein, Samuel Pettingill, William De- 
Line, Patrick Connelly, George Young 
and several others in the neighbor- 
hood. A man named Bowman was 
killed and scalped. 

The raiders crossed the Mohawk 
near Stanton's Island, below Amster- 
dam. Here they burned the houses of 
Timothy Hunt and Nathan Skeels, 
Soon after the Tory main body went 
over the ford a Whig named Ben 
Yates, came up on the south bank and 
saw an Indian on the opposite shore. 
"Discovering Yates and, doubting his 
ability to harm him, he turned 'round 
and slapped his buttocks in defiance. 
In the next instant, a bullet, from the 
rifle of Ben. struck the Indian, and the 
former had only to ford the river to 
get an extra gun and some plunder 
made in the neighborhood." 

That same morning Capt. Littel led 
a scouting party from the Johnstown 
fort to learn the enemy's whereabouts. 
Five miles east of Johnstown they 
came upon Ross's advance party. 
Here Lieut. Saulkill, of the scouts, was 
killed and the" rest of the party fled 
and later were in the ensuing battle. 
At Johnstown, Hugh McMonts and 
David and William Scarborough were 
killed by the raiders. 

As soon as the news reached Col. 
Willett at Fort Plain, he started to 
the rescue with what men he could 
hastily collect. Marching through the 
night he reached Fort Hunter the next 
morning (October 25, 1781), but the 
enemy had already crossed the river 
and directed their course toward 
Johnstown, plundering and burning 
right and left. Willett's force lost 
some time in fording the Mohawk 
which was not easily passable at this 
point, but this accomplished, the pur- 



suit was vigorously prosecuted and 
the enemy were overtaken at Johns- 
town. 

Col. Willett had but 416 men, and 
his inferiority of force compelled 
a resort to strategy in attacking. Ac- 
cordingly Col. Rowley, of Massachu- 
setts, was detached with about 60 of 
his men and some of the Tryon County 
militia to gain the rear of the enemy 
by a circuitous march and fall upon 
them, while Col. Willett attacked 
them in front. The invaders were met 
by Col. Willett near Johnson Hall and 
the battle immediately began. It was 
for a time hotly contested, but at 
length the patriot militia, under Wil- 
lett, suddenly gave way and fled pre- 
cipitately, before their commander 
could induce them to make a stand. 
The enemy would have won an easy 
and complete victory had not Col. 
Rowley at this moment, attacked vigor- 
ously upon their rear and obstinately 
maintained an unequal contest. This 
gave Col. Willett time to rally his men, 
who again pressed forward. At night- 
fall, after a severe struggle, the enemy 
overcome and harassed on all sides, 
fled in confusion to the woods, not 
halting to encamp until they had gone 
several miles. In the engagement the 
Americans lost about 40; the enemy 
had about the same number killed and 
50 taken prisoners. This American 
victorj' was won on the nothwest lim- 
its of the present city of Johnstown 
and near Johnson Hall, where a monu- 
ment marks the field. 

A young patriot, named William 
Scarborough, was among the garrison 
at the Johnstown fort at the time of 
this action, left it with another sol- 
dier named Crosset, to join Willett's 
force. They fell in with the enemy on 
the way, and Crosset, after shooting 
one or two of the latter, was himself 
killed. Scarborough was surrounded 
and captured by a company of High- 
landers under Capt. McDonald, for- 
merly living near Johnstown. Scar- 
borough and the Scotch officer had 
been neighbors before the war and 
had got into a political wrangle, which 
resulted in a fight and the beating of 
the Highland chief. Henceforward he 



108 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



cherished a bitter hatred toward his 
adversary, and finding him now in his 
power, ordered him shot at once. His 
men refusing the murderous office, Mc- 
Donald took it upon himself, and cut 
the prisoner to pieces with his sword. 

Capt. Andrew Fink of Palatine, was 
also in the Johnstown battle. During 
the action near the Hall, the British 
took from the Americans a field-piece, 
which Col. Willett was anxious to re- 
cover. He sent Capt. Fink with a 
party of volunteers, to reconnoitre the 
enemy and if possible, get the lost 
cannon. Three of the volunteers were 
Christian and Mynder Fink, brothers 
of the captain, and George Stansell. 
While observing the movements of the 
enemy from the covert of a fallen 
tree, Stansell was shot down beside 
his brave leader with a bullet through 
his lungs, and was borne from the 
woods by Han Yost Fink. Strength- 
ening his body of volunteers, Capt. 
Fink again entered the forest. The 
cannon was soon after recaptured and, 
it being near night and the enemy 
having fled, Willett drew off his men 
and quartered them in the old Episco- 
pal church at Johnstown, gaining en- 
trance by breaking a window. 

The day after the battle. Col. Wil- 
lett ordered Capt. Littel to send a 
"scout" (scouting party as then called) 
from Fort Johnstown to follow the 
enemy, discover its direction and 'to 
report the same. Captain Littel had 
been slightly wounded in the Hall bat- 
tle but took with him William Laird 
and Jacob Shew and set out after the 
enemy. (Shew was on service in many 
of the neighborhood posts. Fort Plain 
included, and is responsible for much 
of the information Simms used re- 
garding local events). 

The enemy camped the first night 
near Bennett's Corners, four miles 
from the Hall, and the following day, 
striking the Caroga valley, went up 
that stream and went into camp for 
the night (Oct. 26, 1781) half a mile 
beyond the outlet of Caroga lakes. 
The next day Littel's scouting party 
came up and warmed themselves at 
Ross's deserted camp fires. After 
further observing the enemy's trail 



Littel became satisfied that they would 
go to Canada by way of Buck's Isl- 
and. His party lodged in the woods, 
near Ross's last camp, and re- 
turned to Fort Johnsown next day, 
from whence Peter Yost was sent on 
horse, with messages to Col. Willett 
at Fort Dayton, to which post he had 
advanced. 

Ross's party meanwhile was head- 
ing for West Canada creek. The re- 
treating Tories and Indians struck 
the most easterly of the Jerseyfield 
roads (leading to Mount's clearing), 
followed it several miles and encamped 
for the night on what has since been 
called Butler's Ridge, in the town of 
Norway (Herkimer county), half a 
mile from Black creek. 

Early the next morning (Oct. 26, 
1781) Willett started his pursuit. He 
halted at Stone Arabia, and sent for- 
ward a detachment of troops to make 
forced marches to Oneida lake, where 
he was informed the enemy had left 
their boats, for the purpose of de- 
stroying them. In the meanwhile he 
pushed forward with the main force to 
German Flats, where he learned the 
advance party had returned without 
accomplishing their errand. From his 
scouts of the Johnstown fort party, 
he also learned that the enemy had 
taken a northerly course to and along 
the West Canada creek. With about 
400 of his best men, he started in pur- 
suit in the face of a driving snow 
storm. 

The route of the pursuing band of 
Americans was as follows: From Fort 
Dayton up West Canada creek, cross- 
ing it about a mile above Fort Dayton, 
going up its eastern side to Middle- 
ville, from there up the Moltner 
Ijrook to the Jerseyfield road leading 
to Little Falls; striking the Jersey- 
field road northeast of present Fair- 
field village, following it up and camp- 
ing at night a mile or two from the 
enemy's position. 

Willett's camp was in a thick woods 
on the Royal Grant. He sent out a 
scouting party under Jacob Sammons, 
to discover the enemy. Sammons 
found them a mile or so above and, 
after reconnoitering their position, re- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



109 



turned and reported to Col. Willett 
that the enemy were well armed with 
bayonets. 

The American officer gave up the 
plan of a night attack upon them and 
continued his pursuit early the next 
morning (Oct. 28, 1781), but the enemy 
were as quick on foot as he. In the 
afternoon he came up with a lagging 
party of Indians, and a short but sharp 
skirmish ensued. Some of the Indians 
were killed, some taken prisoners and 
others escaped. Willett kept vjpon the 
enemy's trail along the creek, and to- 
ward evening came up with the main 
body at a place called Jerseyfleld, on 
the northeastern side of West Canada 
creek. A running fight ensued, the In- 
dians became terrified, and retreated 
across the stream at a ford, where 
Walter Butler, their leader, tried to 
rally them. In this action it is said 25 
of the enemy were killed and a number 
wounded. A brisk fire was kept vip 
across the creek by both parties for 
some time. Butler, who had dismoun- 
ed, left cover and took some water out 
of the creek with a tin cup. He was 
in the act of drinking it when he was 
seen by two of the American pursuing 
party — Anthony, an Indian, and Daniel 
Olendorf, a man from the present town 
of Minden. They both fired at once at 
Butler, who fell wounded in the head. 
The savage then threw off his blanket, 
put his rifle on it and ran across the 
stream to where Butler lay in great 
pain, supporting his head on his hand. 
Seeing the Indian brandishing his 
tomahawk, the Tory raised his other 
hand saying, "Spare me — give me 
quarters!" "Me give you Sherry Val- 
ley quarters" replied the red man and 
struck Butler dead with his weapon, 
burying it in his head. Just as the 
Tory captain fell, Col. Willett came up 
on the opposite side of the creek. Olen- 
dorf told him where Butler lay and the 
American commander together with 
Andrew Gray of Stone Arabia and 
John Brower, forded the stream and 
came upon the scene just as Anthony 
was about to take his dead victim's 
scalp. Col. Lewis, the Oneida chief 
with the American party here came up 
also and Anthony asked permission to 



scalp the fallen Tory. The red officer 
asked Willett if he should permit it. 
Col. Willett replied: "He belongs to 
your party. Col. Lewis," whereupon 
the chief gave a nod of assent and the 
reeking scalp was torn off the quiver- 
ing body of the man v/ho had incited 
his savages to inflict death and the 
same bloody mutilation on the bodies 
of scores of men, women and children. 
Anthony stripped Butler and re- 
turned across the creek to Olendorf. 
Here the savage put on the red regi- 
mentals and strutted about saying: 
"I be British ofser." "You a fool," 
remarked Olendorf and told the In- 
dian that if he was seen in Butler's 
uniform he would be instantly shot by 
mistake. The savage thereupon hur- 
riedly shed his victim's clothes. 

Butler's body was left where it 
fell, and the place was afterwards 
called Butler's Ford. The pursuit was 
kept up until evening, when Willett, 
completely successful by entirely rout- 
ing and dispersing the enemy, stopped 
and started on his return march. 

The sufferings of the retreating 
force of beaten Tories and Indians, on 
their way to Canada, must have been 
many and acute. The weather was 
cold and, in their hasty flight, many of 
them had cast away their blankets to 
make progress more speedy. The loss 
of the Americans in this pursuit was 
only one man; that of the enemy is 
not known. It must have been very 
heavy. Colonel Willett, in his de- 
spatch to Governor Clinton observed, 
"The fields of Johnstown, the brooks 
and rivers, the hills and mountains, 
the deep and gloomy marshes through 
which they had to pass, they alone can 
tell; and perhaps the officers who de- 
tached them on the expedition." 

On account of the inclement weather 
and the lack of provisions, Willett and 
his force returned to Fort Dayton, 
after abandoning the chase of the 
badly beaten enemy. Here the people 
had gathered together and prepared a 
feast for the victorious American sol- 
diers and their able commander. And 
the occasion was also one of great re- 
joicing over the death of Butler, from 



110 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



whom the people of Tryon county had 
suffered so much. 

The news of the Johnstown and 
West Canada creek victories and the 
death of Butler was spread through 
the valley at about the same time as 
the tidings of the surrender of the 
British army under Cornwallis at 
Yorktown. That great event did not 
give any more joy to the people along 
the Mohawk than the welcome assur- 
ance that the fiend Butler had been 
wiped out in the vigorous pursuit by 
Willett and his fighting men. Wil- 
lett's return to his headquarters at 
Fort Plain must have been in the na- 
ture of a triumphal march and he 
probably was there heartily greeted by 
the much tried people of the Canajo- 
harie and Palatine districts. 

The battle of Johnstown was fought 
by the garrisons of the Fort Plain 
headquarters and its adjacent posts, 
by what local militia could be quickly 
gathered, and probably some men 
from Fort Hunter and Fort Johnson 
and with the aid of the Johnstown 
garrison. The picked force Willett 
took up West Canada creek doubtless 
included some of the scouts or militia 
posted at Fort Herkimer and Fort 
Dayton. So this campaign takes on a 
particular local interest as, although 
the battle of Johnstown and the skir- 
mish at West Canada creek were 
fought outside of the Canajoharie and 
Palatine districts, the great majority 
of the forces there engaged were from 
the Fort Plain valley headquarters and 
the posts within a five-mile radius of 
it. This, as has been before mentioned 
is true of the Sharon Springs battle 
as well. So, like the greater action of 
Oriskany, these Revolutionary Tryon 
county conflicts are of much local in- 
terest because so large a proportion of 
the American soldiers engaged came 
from the Canajoharie and Palatine 
districts of which Fort Plain was the 
center, even though the scenes of bat- 
tles were outside of them. 

Three of the late Revolutionary ac- 
tions — Stone Arabia, St. Johnsville and 
Sharon Springs, occurred within the 
Canajoharie and Palatine districts and 
the two former within the present lim- 



its of the towns of Palatine and St. 
Johnsville. The battle of Johnstown 
has been stated to have been the last 
action of the Revolution on record and 
fittingly terminated in an American 
victory. 



The Mohawk Valley Democrat 
(Fonda), in its issue of Feb. 27, 1913, 
printed a statement of Philip Graff, a 
Mohawk valley soldier who took part 
in the West Canada creek skirmish 
and was present at the death of Wal- 
ter Butler. This document has been 
in the possession of the Sammons 
family for over a century. Graff's ac- 
count differs somewhat from Olen- 
dorf's, but both are probably true, the 
confusion of the battle preventing 
both from seeing all its incidents indi- 
vidually. The Graff statement follows 
in its original form: 

"In October 1781, I was Inlisted in 
the state troops for four months and 
was then stationed at fort Herkimer 
in a company of Capt. Peter Van Ran- 
selaer and Leut. John Spencer. Some 
time in November after Col. Willett 
had a battle with Major Ross at 
Johnstown he arrived at Fort Herki- 
mer. Our company then was ordered 
to join with Col. Willett's men and 
with them we crossed the river from 
the south to the north side the next 
morning; we were marched to the 
north through the Royal Grants and 
encamped in the woods, made fire; 
some snow had fell that day. The 
next morning by daybreak we marched 
on to the enemy about one and came 
with the rear of the enemy, took some 
prisoners and Lieut. John Rj'keman, 
several of their horses with blankets 
and provisions and packs on — we then 
pursued the enemy on to Jersey Field 
and in coming down a hill to the 
creek, we received a very strong fire 
from the enemy who had [crossed] 
the west Canada creek, which was 
returned from Willett's men with 
spirit. The enemy on the west side of 
the creek and Willett's men on the 
east side. One of the Oneida Indians 
having got near the creek saw Major 
Butler look from behind a tree to 
Willett's men at the east, took aim at 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



111 



him and shot him through his hat and 
upper part of his head. Butler fell, 
the enemy run, the Indian run through 
the rest of the Indians and [an] ad- 
vance immediately followed when In- 
dian who shot Butler arrived first 
having noticed particular where But- 
ler fell; he was tottering up and down 
in great agony, partly setting, looking 
the Indian in the face when the In- 
dian shot him about through the eye 
brow and eye and immediately took 
■his scalp off. The Oneida Indians then 
mostly got up and give tremendous 
yell and war hoop, immediately striped 
Butler of all his close, left him naked 
laying on his face. The Indian walked 
forward (the rest followed) with the 
scalp in his hand; came to the guard 
called out, 'I have Butler's scalp,' 
struck it against a tree, 'take the 
blood' [evidently addressing] Lieut. 
Rykeman who was in the guard, 
[and] struck it at his face [saying] 
'Butler's scalp, you Bogen.' Rykeman 
drew his head back and avoided the 
stroke. I saw two [of] his sergeants 
and little farther saw another of the 
enemy shot through the body. Butler 
was killed about 11 o'clock. We pur- 
sued the enemy until evening and re- 
turned the morning, past Butler again 
in the position we left him the day 
before. I believe he never was buried." 



Some incidents of the West Canada 
creek pursuit follow: 

Soon after crossing West Canada 
creek, some of Willett's men found a 
little five-year-old girl beneath a fal- 
len tree, crying piteously. She had 
been made a prisoner and left by the 
Indians in their flight. The militia- 
men comforted her and took her back 
to her valley home. The weather at 
this time was very severe and the suf- 
ferings of the enemy and their prison- 
ers were intense. 

A militiaman named Lodowick 
Moyer, who was in the American pur- 
suit, said that "ice was forming in the 
creeks and, in crossing them, the sol- 
diers took off their pantaloons (note 
the 'pantaloons') and thought the ice 
would cut their legs off." They were 
gone four days on two days rations. 



He said "the enemy left a wounded 
Tory behind after the West Canada 
creek skirmish, who had been wounded 
at the Hall battle. Col. Willett sent 
him back down the creek on a horse, 
with someone to care for him. He 
died on the way and was buried under 
a fallen tree. Col. Willett was as kind 
as he was brave." 

Simms says: "The prisoners cap- 
tured by Major Ross and party suf- 
fered much on their way to Canada 
from the cold, being 17 days journey- 
ing to the Genesee valley, during 
which time they were compelled to live 
almost entirely on a stinted allowance 
of horse-flesh. Some of the prisoners 
wintered in the Genesee valley and 
were taken to Niagara the following 
March. Keller, one of the Currytown 
prisoners, on arriving at Niagara was 
sold, and one Countryman, a native of 
the Mohawk valley and then an officer 
in the British service was his pur- 
chaser." He was sent successively to 
Rebel Island (near Montreal), to Hal- 
ifax, Nova Scotia, and finally to Bos- 
ton, "where he was exchanged and left 
to foot it home without money, as were 
many [liberated] prisoners during the 
war. They were however, welcomed 
to the table of every patriot on whom 
they chanced to call and suffered but 
little by hunger. Keller reached his 
family near Fort Plain, whither they 
had removed in his absence, Dec. 24, 
1782. Van Epps, a fellow prisoner, 
reached his home [in Glen] about 18 
months after his capture and the rest 
of the prisoners, taken that fall [1781], 
returned when he did or at subsequent 
periods, as they were confined in dif- 
ferent places." 



Johnstown, the scene of the forego- 
ing battle, was begun by Sir William 
Johnson in 1760. At the time of the 
battle of Johnstown, in 1781, it con- 
sisted, besides Johnson Hall, of a court 
house and jail (both erected in 1772), 
a stone Episcopal church (built in 
1771), a few taverns and stores and a 
small number of dwellings, some of 
which had been built by Sir William. 
After Sir John Johnson's flight to Can- 



112 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



ada in 1776, the patriot committee had 
the stone jail converted into a fort, 
further strengthening it with a pali- 
sade and block-house. The Johnstown 
fort, Fort Johnson, Fort Hunter, Fort 
Paris, Fort Plain, Fort Clyde, Fort 
Plank, Fort Willett and Fort Win- 
decker were the chief fortifications in 
the present limits of Montgomery and 
Fulton counties during the Revolu- 
tion. With the addition of Forts Day- 
ton and Herkimer (in present Herki- 
mer county) and Fort Schuyler (aban- 
doned in 1781, and in present Oneida 
county) they formed the defenses of 
the valley and this part of the 
Revolutionary New York frontier. Six 
of these nine Fulton and Montgomery 
army posts were within the limits of 
the present Minden and Palatine 
townships. 

On June 26, 1872, at Johnstown, was 
held the centennial celebration of the 
erection of the court house and the 
jail which was the Johnstown fort of 
the Revolution. Gov. Horatio Seymour 
was the chief speaker. A portion of 
his address follows: 

The edifice and its objects were in 
strange contrast with the aspect of 
the country. It was pushing the forms 
and rules of English jurisprudence far 
into the territorities of the Indian 
tribes and it was one of the first steps 
taken in that march of civilization 
which has now forced its way across 
the continent. There is a historic in- 
terest attached to all the classes of 
men who met at that time [the laying 
of the corner stone of the court house 
in 1772]. There was the German from 
the Palatinate, who had been driven 
from his home by the invasion of the 
French and who had been sent to this 
country by the Ministry of Queen 
Anne; the Hollander, who could look 
with pride upon the struggles of his 
country against the powers of Spain 
and in defense of civil and religious 
liberty; the stern Iroquois warriors, 
the conquerors of one-half the original 
territories of our Union, who looked 
upon the ceremonies in their quiet, 
watchful way. There was also a band 
of Catholic Scotch Highlanders, who 
had been driven away from their na- 
tive hills by the harsh policy of the 
British government, which sought by 
such rigor to force the rule of law 
upon the wild clansmen. There were 
to be seen Brant and Butler and 
others, whose names, to this day, recall 
in this valley scenes of cruelty, rapine 



and bloodshed. The presence of Sir 
William Johnson, with an attendance 
of British otticers and soldiers gave 
dignity and brilliancy to the event, 
while over all, asserting the power of 
the Crown, waved the broad folds of 
the British fiag. The aspects of those 
who then met at this place not only 
made a clear picture of the state of 
our country, but it came at a point of 
time in our history of intense interest. 
All, in the mingled crowd of soldiers, 
settlers and savages, felt that the fu- 
ture was dark and dangerous. They 
had fought side by side in the deep 
forests against the French and Indian 
allies; now they did not know how 
soon they would meet as foes in deadly 
conflict. 



In the fall of 1781, Conrad Edick was 
captured by a party of seven maraud- 
ing Indians in the neighborhood of 
Fort Plank, in the present town of 
Minden. They hurried off into the 
wilderness and at nightfall stopped at 
an abandoned log house to stay there 
for the night. The party made a fire, 
as the weather was cold, and ate a 
scanty supper. After this the savages 
sat about on the cabin floor and dis- 
cussed the poor success of their ex- 
pedition, lamenting the lack of spoil 
and prisoners they had secured. They 
determined to hold a pow wow in the 
morning, kill and scalp their prisoner 
and return to the vicinity of the Mo- 
hawk to secure more plunder and 
prisoners if possible. Edick, unbe- 
known to them, understood the Mo- 
hawk dialect, and was harrowed to 
thus learn his fate. When the Indians 
lay down to sleep, their prisoner was 
placed between two of the red men 
and tied to them by cords passing over 
his breast and thighs. Sleep was out 
of the question for the agonized white 
man, as he lay trying to figure out 
some plan of escape. His restless 
hands felt about the debris on the 
floor and came in contact with a bit of 
glass, to his great joy. Assuring him- 
self that his savage bedfellows slept 
soundly, he found he could reach his 
bindings with his hands and cautiously 
severed those which were fastened to 
his chest and then the ones about his 
legs. He knew the Indians had left a 
large watch dog on guard outside the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



113 



door and he had also noticed, on his 
captive journey the preceding day, a 
large hollow log in the woods nearby. 
From the door he made a break for 
the forest and the dog at once chased 
him barking loudly. Before Bdick 
reached cover 100 yards away, the In- 
dians woke, grasped their rifles and 
pursued. As he neared the edge of 
the woods they fired at the fleeing 
prisoner but Edick luckily stumbled 
and the volley went over his head. 
Jumping up he ran among the trees 
until he found the hollow log and 
crawled inside. The Mohawks and 
their dog made a search for their es- 
caped captive but the animal proved 
poor on the scent and did not discover 
Edick's hiding place. The savages 
sat down on the very log in which the 
white man was concealed and dis- 
cussed their prisoner's escape. They 
decided he had climbed a tree or that 
"the devil" had spirited him away. As 
it was nearing morning the party re- 
solved to eat and follow their plan of 
the night before to return and plunder 
along the Mohawk. One Indian went 
to a neighboring field and shot a sheep 
which they dressed. Then the savages 
built a fire against the same log in 
which Edick was hidden and proceeded 
to cook their mutton. The white man 
suffered tortures from the heat and 
smoke and stuffed parts of his cloth- 
ing and some leaves into the crannies 
of the log to keep the fire out. He 
controlled his tortures of mind and 
body and desire to cough on account 
of the smoke, knowing he would be 
instantly killed if discovered. When 
the cooking was finished, his miseries 
gradually subsided with the dying fire. 
The savages, after their breakfast, left 
one of their number on guard to keep 
a lookout for their lost prisoner and 
started on their new foray. Often dur- 
ing the morning the Indian sentinel 
sat or stood on Edick's log. Not hear- 
ing the savage's movements for some 
time, the white man ventured to creep 
out of his hiding place. Not seeing 
the savage, Edick ran for his life and 
eventually reached Fort Plank in 
safety. Conrad Edick, after this terri- 



ble experience, lived to a ripe old age, 
dying at Frankfort, N. Y., 1846, aged 
about 80 years, which would make 
him under 20 at the time of the above 
exciting affair. Ittig was the original 
German for the name Edick. 



In the latter part of October, 1781, 
four patriots were captured in the 
Sharon neighborhood by Indian ma- 
rauders. Christian Myndert aban- 
doned his home there in the fall of 
1781, on account of the several Indian 
forays in that neighborhood. He re- 
turned with Lieut. Jacob Borst of Co- 
bleskill. Sergeant William Kneiskern 
and Jacob Kerker, all armed, to fix his 
buildings for the winter. After the 
work the party went to the house, 
built a fire and warmed themselves, 
setting their guns in a corner of the 
room. Six Indians, commanded by a 
valley Tory named Walrath, broke 
into the room, seized the guns and 
captured the entire party, carrying 
them off to Canada. They were sub- 
jected to such cruelties in the Indian 
country that Borst died at Niagara. 



Following are the principal national 
occurrences of the year 1781 summar- 
ized: 1781, Jan. 17, Americans under 
Morgan destroy British force at Cow- 
pens, S. C; 1781, March 1, Articles of 
Confederation (adopted 1777) between 
the thirteen states finally go into ef- 
fect; 1781, March 15, indecisive battle 
at Guilford Court House, S. C, be- 
tween British under Tarleton and Am- 
ericans under Greene; 1781, April 25, 
defeat of Greene's army at Hobkirk 
Hill, near Camden, S. C; 1781, Sept. 6, 
Benedict Arnold, in command of a 
British force, burns and plunders New 
London, Conn., while his associate of- 
ficer, Col. Eyre, takes Fort Griswold 
and massacres half the garrison after 
the surrender; 1781, Sept. 8, battle at 
Eutaw Springs, S. C, with advantage 
with the Americans; 1781, Oct. 19, sur- 
render of the British army, under 
Cornwallis, to Washington at York- 
town, Va. 



114 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



CHAPTER XXI. 

1782— Last of the War in the Valley- 
Rebuilding and Repopulation — Tory 
and Indian Raid at Fort Herkimei — 
Tories — Gen. Washington at Sche- 
nectady. 

The following chapter deals with 
the year 1782 and 1783 as relating to 
the Canajoharie and Palatine districts 
and Tryon, later Montgomery county. 
As there were no hostilities to speak 
of in those years in this immediate 
section, the valley began to rapidly 
build up again. Families returned to 
their burned homes. The whole sec- 
tion had been razed of dwellings by 
the raiding parties of the enemy but 
houses and barns were now reared 
and, with rumors of peace in the 
air, the valley was rapidly repopu- 
lated in these two years. When Wash- 
ington came to Fort Plain in 1783 much 
of the marks of war along the Mohawk 
had vanished. In 1782, and even in 
1183, small scalping parties of Indians 
committed occasional murders and 
depredations and in 1782 the Herki- 
mer settlements were destructively 
visited but the Canajoharie and Pala- 
tine districts were comparatively free 
of further hostilities, except in a small 
way. This was largely due to the 
efficient protection afforded by Col. 
Willett and his garrisons. 

In February, 1782, the Tryon county 
court of general session indicted 41 
persons for their Tory proclivities, on 
the charge of "aiding, abetting, feed- 
ing and comforting the enemy." Molly 
Brant was one of those indicted. In 
February, 1781, this court indicted 104 
Tryon county Tories on this charge. 
In October, 1781, 16 more were so 
charged. Among the 163 persons 
indicted many bore the names of Mo- 
hawk valley German and Dutch pio- 
neer families. Simms says, "Indeed 
we may say that thus very many of 
the German families of New York be- 
came represented in Canada, and are 
so to this day." 

The Tories were not allowed to re- 
turn without vigorous protests. Peter 
Young of the town of Florida, living 
at Young's lake (a small pond near 



Schoharie creek) was an ardent 
patriot. He married a Serviss girl, 
whose family were Tories. At the 
close of hostilities two of Young's 
brothers-in-law made Mrs. Young a 
visit. Young came in on them and or- 
dered them back to Canada at the 
point of a musket and they promptly 
took up their return journey. 

Christopher P. Yates wrote a letter 
to Col. H. Frey dated Freyburg, March 
22, 1782. He said among other things: 
"We have already had three different 
inroads from the enemy. The last was 
at Bowman's kill, [Canajoharie creek] 
from whence they took three children 
of McFee's family." 

1782, July 26 and 27, occurred Capt. 
Crysler's last Tory invasion of the 
Schoharie country at Foxescreek and 
in the CobleskilU valley, which was the 
final incursion in that quarter. 

One of the last Indian murders of 
the Revolution, within the present 
limits of Fulton and Montgomery 
county was that of Henry Stoner of 
Fonda's Bush, later Broadalbin, in 
1782. He was an old patriot and was 
struck down and tomahawked in his 
fields. His son, Nick Stoner, the fa- 
mous trapper, attacked the Indian 
murderer of his father with an andiron 
in a Johnstown tavern after the war. 
Strange to say young Stoner was im- 
prisoned for this affray in which he 
laid out several savages, but was 
shortly after released from the Johns- 
town jail. 

In July, 1782, all the buildings on the 
south side of the Mohawk in the Ger- 
man Flats section, except Fort Herki- 
mer and the Johan Jost Herkimer 
house, were destroyed by a force of 600 
Tories and Indians. The night before 
the mill at Little Falls had been burn- 
ed by the raiders. One map was killed 
in attempting to escape to Fort Her- 
kimer and another was caught, tor- 
tured and killed near that post, the 
Indians hoping his cries would draw 
a party from the fort and so weaken 
it that they could make a successful 
attack. The garrison's hot fire kept 
off the enemy. Two soldiers in the 
fort were hit and killed and a number 
of the invaders are presumed to have 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



115 



been killed and wounded. The valley 
of the Mohawk was not again visited 
by any serious raid during the re- 
mainder of the war. The conflict had 
not entirely ceased in other quarters 
but there was a general subsiding of 
hostilities here. Toward the close of 
1782, the British commander-in-chief 
directed that no more Indian expedi- 
tions be sent out, and those on foot 
were called in. 



jC5f^//" 



•^ 



The following account shows the re- 
sourcefulness and reckless daring of 
one, at least, of the Tories of the val- 
ley: Among the Mohawk- valley refu- 
gees in Canada was John Helmer, a 
son of Phiirj) Helmer, who lived at 
Fonda's Bush. Having returned to 
that settlement he was arrested and 
imprisoned at Johnstown. The sen- 
tinel at the jail one day allowed Hel- 
mer to take his gun in hand to look at' 
it, as the prisoner expressed admira- 
tion for it. Helmer, with the weapon, 
intimidated the guard and escaped 
again to Canada. With charcteristic 
recklessness, he returned later to re- 
cruit British soldiers among his Tory 
neighbors and was again captured and 
jailed at Johnstown. Fortunately for 
the venturesome Tory, a sister of his 
had a lover among the garrison sta- 
tioned at the jail, which was then also 
a fort; and he not only released Hel- 
mer but with another soldier set out 
with him for Canada. The two desert- 
ers were shot dead by a pursuing party 
and Helmer, although severely wound- 
ed by a bayonet thrust, escaped to the 
woods. Later he was found half dead 
and was returned to the jail for the 
third time. His wound, having healed, 
he again escaped and reached Canada 
after almost incredible sufferings. 
Here he remained and made his home 
after the war. Among the Tory fight- 
ers seem to have been many of reck- 
less valor, although their most typi- 
cal leader, Walter Butler, died the 
death of a coward after a record un- 
equalled for bloody and inhuman 
crimes, showing that a craven heart 
and a murderous hjind go together. 
The spirit animating the Tory fighters 



seems to have been absolutely different 
from that of the Americans. Believing 
that the cause of the king was just, 
they resorted to every diabolical de- 
vice to murder and intimidate the 
Whig population of the valley. The 
more violent their crimes, however, 
the harder did the provincials stand 
their ground. Many of the Tories were 
more savage than the Indians, as 
Brant affirms and their murderous 
cruelty toward the women and chil- 
dren, as well as men, who were for- 
merly their neighbors, almost surpass 
belief. They seem to have been as 
ready with the scalping knife as the 
Indians and were constantly inciting 
their savage allies to the utmost bar- 
barities. In contrast to this attitude, 
that of the Whig population of the 
valley was marked. Much as the Tory 
soldiers were hated, their women and 
children who were left behind were 
not injured or maltreated in a single 
known instance, and the Tory prison- 
ers taken were treated with the utmost 
justice. The intense hatred of Eng- 
land, which prevailed in the valley 
after the Revolution, was due as 
much to Tory barbarities as to the 
murders and tortures perpetrated by 
the Indians. American justice com- 
bined with American brawn, won in 
this horrible struggle against white 
and red savagery, but the bitter pas- 
sions engendered by this civil war 
along the Mohawk endured for years 
afterward. 

It was the Tory methods of warfare, 
particularly as shown on the frontier 
of New York, that so thoroughly em- 
bittered American sentiment against 
England, a feeling that existed in vary- 
ing degree for the greater part of a 
century after the close of the Revolu- 
tion. Warfare, based upon the murder 
of women and children and the de- 
struction and looting of property can 
never stand high in the eyes of civil- 
ized people. Tory and Indian mur- 
ders, barbarities and scalpings com- 
bined with the Revolutionary use of 
hired foreign troops, such as the Hes- 
sians, were the causes which tended to 
divide the two great branches of the 



116 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



English speaking peoples during the 
greater part of the nineteenth century. 

It is probable that the actions of 
many of the Tryon county Tories, dur- 
ing the war for liberty, were actuated 
by the thought of gain. In case the 
British cause had triumphed the 
patriots' lands would doubtless have 
been confiscated and given to the 
Tories in proportion to their Revolu- 
tionary "services." This would be 
rendered easier by the wholesale mur- 
der of the "rebel" population and it 
was probably such a policy that in- 
duced the fiendish methods of the Tory 
invaders and their Indian allies. 

There is abundant evidence that the 
valley Tories were promised the 
"rebels' " lands if they would fight for 
King George. Sir John Johnson was 
particularly lavish with these prom- 
ises to his followers from the Mohawk 
valley. It is said that two Tryon 
county Tories, then serving under Sir 
John, began an argument as to which 
should have the rich lands of Lieut.- 
Col. Wagner in Palatine. It ended in 
a rough and tumble fight which laid 
the two warriors up for several days. 

It is a fitting place here to refer to 
the difficulty experienced in the fore- 
going Revolutionary chapters in nam- 
ing, as a whole, the forces invading 
the valley. They are generally spoken 
of as the "enemy" or the "raiders" or 
some such term, for the simple rea- 
son that they cannot be referred to as 
"English" or "British," because they 
were composed of such vary elements, 
were composed of such verying 
elements. British, Tories, Indians 
and Germans composed the army 
under St. Leger and under Sir 
John Johnson at Stone Arabia and 
St. Johnsville and in almost 
every other case of battle and in- 
vasion. The Americans looked upon 
the British use of Indians in the con- 
flict as a brutal, uncivilized proceed- 
ing and England's further employment 
of Hessian troops was a still further 
cause of the just hatred of our coun- 
tryman against Britain. True, Amer- 
ica had many friends in England but 
the ruling party countenanced the 
savagery referred to and brought 



about a deplorable state of affairs in 
the after relations of the two coun- 
tries. 



Philip Helmer had had a love 
affair with a maiden of the Pal- 
after district. Johannes Bellinger, 
a Whig, lived just above Fort Hess, in 
the town of St. Johnsville, and had 
six daughters, with one of whom the 
lively Tory, Philip Helmer, was enam- 
ored. He was of course forbidden the 
Bellinger place and consequently form- 
ed a plot to kidnap his sweetheart, 
Peggy by name. Taking a party of 
Indians he set out for Bellinger's but, 
evidently fearing the savages would do 
harm to the family, he gave the alarm 
at Fort Hess and a party of volunteers 
set out to ambuscade the red men. On 
their approach, one of the militia be- 
came excited and shouted: "Boys, 
here they are," and the Indians turned 
and fled, one of their number being 
shot down and killed. It is said that 
this double-turncoat, Helmer, married 
Peggy Bellinger after the war. 

Another account says that Tories 
and Indians of the guerilla party in- 
tended carrying off the Bellinger girls 
as concubines for themselves, leaving 
Helmer entirely out of the deal. 
Learning of this he turned informer 
as related. 



The reunions of valley families with 
members who had been captured dur- 
ing the Revolution, furnish countless 
dramatic incidents. One of these has 
a homely smack of early farm life. 
Leonard Paneter was captured in the 
present town of St. Johnsville, when 
he was but eight years old, and taken 
to Canada. On his release from cap- 
tivity a year later he was sent to 
Schenectady with others who had been 
taken in the valley and who were now 
exchanged and free to return to their 
Mohawk homes. Young Paneter's 
father sent an older son down to Sche- 
nectady to bring the boy back. Here 
he found a number of lads drawn up 
in line waiting for parents or relatives 
to identify them. The boys did not 
at once know eaph other but Leonard 
upon seeing the horse that carried his 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



117 



brother, remembered it at once, and 
the brothers were soon reunited and 
happily on their way, probably both 
riding the old nag homeward. 



In the summer of 1782, Gen. Wash- 
ington was at Albany and was invited 
to visit Schenectady by its citizens. 
He accepted and rode there from Al- 
bany in a carriage with Gen. Schuy- 
ler on June 30, 1782. Washington 
walked with his hat under his arm in 
a long procession which served as his 
escort a considerable distance. A pub- 
lic dinner was given the commander- 
in-chief at the tavern kept by Abra- 
ham Clinch, who was a drummer boy 
under Braddock. Being acquainted 
with the adventures and sufferings of 
Col. Visscher, who then lived in Sche- 
nectady, Washington expressed sur- 
prise that the noted Tryon county mi- 
litia officer had not been invited, and 
sent a messenger for him. Visscher 
was a man of spirit, but somewhat re- 
tiring. He was found in his barn do- 
ing some work, which he left with re- 
luctance. Presenting himself to 
Washington the latter gave him mark- 
ed attention and seated Visscher next 
himself at the dinner. A number of 
Tryon militia officers were there pres- 
ent. Visscher, it will be remembered, 
was in chief command of the neigh- 
boring posts, with headquarters at 
Fort Paris in Stone Arabia, in 1779, 
and later was scalped by Indians but 
recovered, as previously related. He 
also commanded the unfortunate rear 
guard at Oriskany but was himself a 
man of utmost bravery. 

During this Schenectady visit, it is 
related, Washington was walking 
about the streets of that city with a 
citizen named Banker, a blacksmith. 
An old negro passing took off his hat 
and bowed respectfully to the general, 
a salutation which Washington po- 
litely returned. His Schenectady com- 
panion expressed surprise, saying that 
slaves were not thus noticed in the 
valley. Washington replied: "I cannot 
be less civil than a poor negro." 
Washington on this Schenectady jour- 
ney also visited Saratoga Springs and 
vicinity. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

1783— February 9, Col. Willett's At- 
tempt to Capture Fort Oswego — Pri- 
vations of the American Troops on 
the Return Trip. 

One of the last military enterprises 
(and possibly the very final one) on 
which Colonel Willett set out from 
Fort Plain was the attempt to capture 
the important British fortification of 
Oswego in February, 1783. This, as 
per Washington's report to congress, 
was an expedition in which a force of 
500 Americans were engaged under 
Willett. They were troops of the New 
York line and part of a Rhode Island 
regiment and were all probably then 
stationed at the valley posts of which 
Fort Plain was the headquarters, and 
it was doubtless here that the plan- 
ning and final preparations, for the 
Oswego expedition, were made. Of 
this little known enterprise, one of the 
last of the Revolution, Simms has the 
following: 

"Said Moses Nelson, an American 
prisoner there [at Oswego] in the 
spring of 1782, when the enemy set 
about rebuilding Fort Oswego, three 
officers, Capt. Nellis, Lieut. James 
Hare, and Ensign Robert Nellis, a son 
of the captain and all of the forester 
service had charge of the Indians there 
employed. [These Tory Nellises may 
have been of the Palatine Nellis fam- 
ily.] Nelson and two other lads, also 
prisoners, accompanied this party 
which was conveyed in a sloop, as 
waiters. About 100 persons were em- 
ployed in building this fortress, which 
occupied most of the season. The win- 
ter following. Nelson remained at this 
fort and was in it when Col. Willett 
advanced with a body of troops, Feb- 
ruary 9, 1783, with the intention of 
taking it by surprise. The enterprise 
is said to have been abortive in con- 
sequence of Col. Willett's guide, who 
was an Oneida Indian, having lost his 
way in the night when within a few 
miles of the fort. The men were illy 
provided for their return — certain vic- 
tory having been anticipated — and 
their sufferings weie, in consequence, 
very severe. This enterprise was un- 



118 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



dertaken agreeable to the orders of 
Gen. Washington. 

"Col. AVillett, possil)ly, may not have 
known, as well as Washington did, that 
Fort Oswego had been so strongly 
fitted up the preceding year and con- 
sequently the difRculties he had to en- 
counter before its capture. Be that as 
it may, the probability is, that had the 
attack been made, the impossibility of 
scaling the walls would have frus- 
trated the design, with the loss of 
many brave men. The fort was sur- 
rounded by a deep moat, in which were 
planted many sharp pickets. From the 
lower part of the walls projected down 
and outward another row of heavy 
pickets. A drawbridge enabled the in- 
mates to pass out and in, which was 
drawn up and secured to the wall 
every night. The corners [of the fort] 
were built out so that mounted can- 
non commanded the trenches. Two of 
Willett's men, badly frozen, entered 
the fort in the morning, surrendering 
themselves prisoners, from whom the 
garrison learned the object of the en- 
terprise. The ladders prepared by 
Willett to scale the walls were left on 
his return, and a party of British sol- 
diers went and brought them in. Said 
the American prisoner Nelson, 'The 
longest of them, when placed against 
the walls inside the pickets, reached 
only about two-thirds of the way to 
the top.' The post was strongly gar- 
risoned and it was the opinion of Nel- 
son that the accident or treachery 
which misled the troops was most 
providential, tending to save Col. Wil- 
lett from defeat and most of his men 
from certain death." 

John Roof of Canajoharie, who was a 
private in this ill-fated expedition, told 
Simms that so certain was Willett of 
success that insufficient provision? 
were taken along for the journej^ out 
and back to the valley. There were 
several dogs with the American troops 
at the start and these were killed on 
the out trip, as their barking, it was 
feared, would betray the expedition to 
the enemy. On the wintry trip back 
the suffering and famished soldiers 
were glad to dig these animals out of 
the snow and eat them. The return of 



the Americans to the valley forts must 
have been a trip of great privation. 

Gen. Washington reported the fail- 
ure of Willett's attempt on Oswego to 
the President of Congress, February 
25, 1783, as follows: 

"Sir — I am sorry to acquaint yonr 
Excellency — for the information of 
Congress — that a project which I had 
formed for attacking the enemy's fort 
at Oswego — as soon as the sleighing 
.should be good, and the ice of the 
Oneida lake should have acquired suf- 
ficient thickness to admit the passage 
of a detachment — has miscarried. The 
report of Col. Willett, to whom T had 
entrusted the command of the party, 
consisting of a part of the Rhode 
Island regiment and the State troops 
of New York — in all about 500 men — 
will assign reasons for the disappoint- 
ment." 

Washington further said that, al- 
though the expedition had failed, "I 
am certain nothing depending upon 
Col. Willett, to give efficiency to it, 
was wanting." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

1783 — April 17, Messenger From Gen. 
Washington Reaches Fort Plain Giv- 
ing News of End of Hostilities — 
April 18, Captain Thompson's Jour- 
ney to Oswego With a Flag of Truce. 

In April, 1783, Captain Alexander 
Thompson made a journey from "Fcrt 
Rennselaer" (Fort Plain) to the British 
post of Oswego to announce the for- 
mal cessation of hostilities between 
England and the United States of 
America. He kept a record of his trip 
and this journal was given to Simms 
by Rev. Dr. Denis Wortman, long a 
pastor of the Reformed church at Fort 
Plain. It is headed, "Journal of a tour 
from the American Garrison at Fort 
Rennselaer in Canajoharie on the Mo- 
hawk river, to the British Garrison oi 
Oswego, as a Flagg, to announce a 
cessation of hostilities on the frontiers 
of New York, commenced, Friday, 
April 18, 1783." 

This journal recounts a wilderness 
journey made within a year of a cen- 
tury and a half after the trip of the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



119 



Dutch traders through the Canajo- 
harie district, narrated in the first 
chapter. Traveling conditions along 
the route seem to have been similar 
even at this later date. It also details 
a tour over a historic route of traffic 
of which the Mohawk was an impor- 
tant part, and a great highway so vital 
to the Canajoharie and Palatine dis- 
trict people. The details narrated give 
vividly, moreover, a characteristic pic- 
ture of wilderness travel anjl life at 
that day. Thus, aside from its in- 
terest in relation to the news of peace 
in the Mohawk valley and its revela- 
tion of the importance of old Fort 
Plain, it is given due place here. 

This diary belonged (in 1880) to 
Mrs. Thomas Buckley of Brooklyn, a 
granddaughter of its Revolutionary 
author. We have seen that the name 
of Fort Plain had been changed to 
Fort Rensselaer, in honor of Gen. Van 
Rensselaer, who had proved so lacking 
during the Stone Arabia and Klock's 
Field battles. This name it retained 
officially to the end of the war. Simms 
has summarized Captain Thompson's 
record as follows: 

"On the first of January of this year 
(1783), Capt. Thompson, as his jour- 
nal shows, was appointed to the ar- 
tillery command of several posts of 
the Mohawk valley, which he names as 
follows: Fort Rensselaer, Fort Plank, 
Fort Herkimer and Fort Dayton. Fort 
Rensselaer — another name for Fort 
Plain — being, as he says, the head- 
quarters for the river forts, he thought 
proper to have his own quarters near 
those of the commanding officer [Col. 
Willett], so as to furnish from his own 
company detachments as required. 

"On the 17th of April — only a little 
over two months after Col. Willett's 
attempt to surprise Fort Oswego — an 
express arrived at Fort Plain, from 
Washington's headquarters, to have an 
officer sent from thence with a flag to 
Oswego to announce to that garrison 
(from whence many of the Indian 
depredators came) a general cessation 
of hostilities, and an impending peace. 

"Major Andrew Fink, then in com- 
mand at Fort Plain [under Col. Wil- 
lett], committed this important and 



hazardous mission to Capt. Thompson. 
His companions were to be four, a 
bombardier of his own company, a 
sergeant of Willett's militia, and a 
Stockbridge Indian, and his guide and 
interpreter were to join him at Fort 
Herkimer. All things were to be ready 
for an early start on the morning of 
the 18th, but, when the nature of his 
mission became known along the val- 
ley, many, having lost friends whose 
fate was unknown, desired a chance to 
send letters by the flagbearer; and the 
start was thus delayed until 11 o'clock, 
at which hour numerous packets and 
letters were collected to be sent to 
friends in Canada. To some inquirers 
he said on his return, his mission 
proved to be one of joy, to others one 
of sadness; as the veil of mysteries 
had not be«;n lifted. 

"A flag of truce having been made 
by securing a white cloth to the head 
of a spontoon [a short spear much used 
on this frontier] to be borne by the 
sergeant, he left the fort with the 
flag man ?n front of him and the ar- 
tilleryman and the Indian in his rear. 
He started with a pack horse which 
he discreetly left at Fort Herkimer. 
The no^/elty of his mission drew a 
great crowd together and he was ac- 
companied several miles by a caval- 
cade of nfficers, soldiers and citizens. 
He went up the river road on the 
south side of the Mohawk and spoke 
of passing Fort Windecker (near Min- 
denville), and the Canajoharie or Up- 
per Mohawk castle (now Danube, 
where the Mohawks' church still 
stands), arriving at Mr. Schuyler's 
house at the foot of Fall Hill about 3 
p. m., where he and his party were 
presented an excellent dinner. Leav- 
ing Schuyler's at 4 o'clock he passed 
over P''all Hill and arrived at Fort 
Herkimer at sunset. At this garrison, 
Capt. Thompson found David Schuy- 
ler, a brother of the man he had dined 
with, who became his guide and inter- 
preter. Eight days' rations were put 
into knapsacks, and one short musket 
was concealed in a blanket, with which 
to kill game, if by any means their 
provisions failed. On Saturday morn- 
ing, April 19, in a snow storm, this 



120 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



party of five set out on their wilder- 
ness journey, still on the south side of 
the Mohawk. They met several hunt- 
ing parties and made their first halt 
opposite 'Thompson's place, above New 
Germantown,' now in the town of 
Schuyler. A few miles above they fell 
in with a party of ten families of In- 
dians on a hunting excursion and 
learned how forest children lived. 
Here his men, instructed by their In- 
dian companion, soon erected a wig- 
wam foi" the night in the following 
manner: Two stakes, with crotches 
at the upper end, were set upright 
about ten feet apart, upon which they 
placed a pole. Then they covered the 
sides with bark resting the top against 
the pole with the bottom on the 
ground, so as to leave a space about 
twelve feet wide. The gables were 
also covered with bark; a fire was 
made in the middle of the structure, 
and a small hole left in the top for the 
smoke to pass out, and when some 
hemlock boughs had been cut for their 
beds, the wigwam was completed. 
Such a structure the Indians would 
construct in an incredibly short space 
of time, where bark was handily ob- 
tained. In such rude huts, many a 
hunter or weary traveler has found a 
good night's rest. 

"The next morning the journey was 
resumed on the Fort Stanwix road, and 
at 10 o'clock he passed the ruins of 
Old Fort Schuyler of the French war 
(now Utica). On Capt. Thompson's 
arrival at the 'Seekaquate' creek (Sad- 
aquada or Saquoit creek), which en- 
ters the Mohawk at Whitestown, he 
found the bridge gone. Soon after 
passing this stream, he said he as- 
cended 'Ariska (Oriskany) Hill,' which 
he observed 'was usually allowed to be 
the highest piece of ground from 
Schenectada to Fort Stanwix.' Says 
the journal: 'I went over the ground 
where Gen. Herkimer fought Sir 
John Johnson; this is allowed to be one 
of the most desperate engagements 
that has ever been fought by the mi- 
litia. I saw a vast number of human 
skulls and bones scattered through 
the woods.' This was nearly five and 
a half years after the battle. He halt- 



ed to view the ruins of Fort Stanwix 
[Fort Schuyler] and those of St. Le- 
ger's works while besieging the fort 
and, passing along the site of Fort 
Bull, on Wood crtek, at the end of a 
mile and a half, he encamped for the 
night, erecting the usual Indian wig- 
wam. The night was one of terror, as 
the howling of wolves and other ani- 
mals prevented much sleep, but, keep- 
ing up their fires, tbe beasts were kept 
at bay. 

"Monday morning, on arriving at 
Canada creek, a tributary of Wood 
creek, two trees were felled to bridge 
the streain. A mile and a half below 
he left the creek and ascended Pine 
Ridge, where he discovered in his path 
a human footprint made by a shoe, 
which indicated a white wearer. On 
arriving at Fish creek, he halted to 
fish but with poor success. He had 
purposed to cross the creek and pur- 
sue his way to Oswego on the north 
side of Oneida lake, striking Oswego 
river near the falls, but, learning from 
his Indian (who had recently been on 
a scout to the Three Rivers) that he 
had seen three flat-bottomed boats 
with oars, and as the ice had recently 
left the lakes and thinking they might 
still be there, he changed his course 
for Wood creek, and striking it at a 
well-known place, called 'The Scow,' 
he sent the Indian and sergeant to 
search for the boats and to return the 
same evening. The three remaining 
at 'The Scow' were soon searching 
for material for a cabin, but neither 
bark nor hemlock could be found and, 
as it was fast growing dark, they col- 
lected what logs and wood tHey could 
to keep up a good fire which was 
started. At eight o'clock it began to 
rain terribly and in two or three hours 
the fire was put out. As the boat 
seekers did not come back that night 
it became one of great anxiety and 
discontent. 

"The men returned after daylight 
and reported a serviceable boat with- 
out oars, which they had launched and 
towed round the edge of the lake and 
left at the royal block house, known as 
Fort Royal, at the mouth of Wood 
creek. No tim6 was lost in reaching 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



121 



the boat, which was found to leak 
badly. They caulked it as best they 
could with an old rope. From a board 
oars were soon made, a, pole raised 
and blankets substituted for a sail with 
bark halliards. Having everything 
aboard, they moved into Oneida lake 
(20 miles long) with a favorable but 
light wind. It was deemed prudent to 
run across the lake to Nine Mile Point, 
on the north shore, but before reaching 
it two men were kept constantly bail- 
ing. The boat was again repaired and 
put afloat, sailing from point to point. 
As night approached the crew landed 
half way down the lake, where they 
improvised a cabin with a good fire to 
dry their clothes. The night was 
pleasant but the howling of wild beasts 
again terrific. 

"On Wednesday, the 23d [of April], 
a beautiful day, the party were early 
on the move, and, from the middle of 
the lake, Capt. Thompson said he could 
see both ends of it, and enjoyed one of 
the most beautiful views imaginable. 
There were several islands on the wes- 
tern side of the lake covered with lofty 
timber, while back of the Oneida cas- 
tles the elevated ground made a very 
beautiful prospect. After about eight 
miles sail, he heard a gun^ evidently 
fired by an enemy, but, to avoid ob- 
servation, he sailed along the shore 
until he was opposite 'Six Mile 
Islands,' as the two largest islands in 
the lake, lying side by side, are called. 
He went ashore, where a fire was 
kindled and a good dinner enjoyed; 
after which he again dropped down 
the lake, passed Fort Brewerton, and 
entered the Oneida river. Here he 
found a rapid current in his favor and 
the river, the most serpentine of any 
stream he had ever been on, abound- 
ing at that season with immense num- 
bers of wild fowl, especially of ducks 
of many varieties. He saw many 
flocks of geese, but he would not allow 
the old musket to be fired, lest a lurk- 
ing scout might be attracted to his 
position. He continued his course 
down the river, sometimes on the On- 
ondaga side, and at others on the Os- 
wego side. 



"About two miles from Three Rivers 
(nearly 20 miles from Oneida lake), he 
discovered a party of Indians, in three 
canoes, coming up the river near the 
same shore. On seeing his boat, they 
gave a yell and paddled to the opposite 
shore; they landed, drew their canoes 
out of the water, ascended the bank 
and took to trees [not having presum- 
ably made out the flag of truce]. When 
the flag was opposite, they hailed in 
Indian and in English, which last was 
answered. When assured that the 
captain had a flag of truce, the Cana- 
dians asked him to come ashore. Four 
Indians then came out from behind 
trees and beckoned him to land. He 
did so and was conducted into the 
woods. His men also landed and the 
Indians drew his boat well on shore. 
He was brought into the presence of 
two white men and an old Indian, who 
were seated on the ground. One of 
them told Capt. Thompson his name 
was Hare, a lieutenant of Butler's 
rangers, and that he had just started 
on an enterprise to the neighborhood 
of Fort Plain. Thompson assured the 
lieutenant that all hostilities had 
ceased on the warpath, and that his 
mission was to convey such intelli- 
gence to the commanding officer at Os- 
wego. When assured that all Ameri- 
can scouts had been called in, after 
several consultations, the war party 
(consisting of one other white man 
and eight Indians — all being painted 
alike) concluded to take Thompson to 
the fort, saying, if the measure proved 
a finesse, they had him sure. He was 
conducted back to his boat, to the great 
relief of his friends who were exer- 
cised by thoughts of treachery, and, 
with a canoe on each side of the boat 
and one behind it, the flotilla passed 
down the river, Lieutenant Hare tak- 
ing a seat with Captain Thompson in 
his boat. The party glided down past 
the Three Rivers [the junction of the 
Oneida and Seneca rivers with the Os- 
wego], about three miles below which 
they landed and encamped for the 
night, constructing two cabins, one of 
which Lieut. Hare, Capt. Thompson 
and two Indians occupied, the remain- 
der of both parties using the other. 



122 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



"Early Thursday morning, Lieut 
Hare sent one of his canoes to Oswego 
to inform the commander of the ap- 
proaching flag, and, soon after sun- 
rise, they all embarked down the rap- 
ids which increased as they approach- 
ed the falls [of the Oswego]. On ar- 
riving there they drew the boats 
around the carrying place, and safely 
passing the rifts below, they stopped 
within a mile of Lake Ontario where 
they were hailed by a sentinel on shore 
to await orders from the commandant 
of the fort [Major Ross]." 

Thompson was conducted blindfolded 
into the fort, hearing the drawbridge 
over the trench let down, the chains 
of which made a remarkable clatter- 
ing. In the fort his blindfold was re- 
moved and he delivered his message 
to Major Ross, who received him very 
courteously, the latter inviting him to 
sit down to a dinner of cold ham, fowl, 
wine, etc., while the major looked over 
the papers. Major Ross had, within a 
fortnight, received orders from Gov. 
Haldimand of Canada to strengthen 
his fortifications for American inva- 
sion and was greatly surprised at the 
news Thompson had brought. How- 
ever, Ross pledged his honor that all 
his scouts would be at once called in 
and ordered the sloop Caldwell 
(mounting 14 guns) to Fort Niagara to 
spread the news of the armistice. The 
curtains, which had been put up at the 
windows looking out on Lake Ontario, 
were now drawn and Major Ross 
asked his guest to look out and see the 
Caldwell departing on her errand of 
peace. The view from the window 
opening out upon the wide sunlit wat- 
ers of the lake was a delightful one. 
Ross regretted that he could not con- 
duct the American captain about the 
British works. The matter of Ameri- 
can prisoners in Canada was brought 
up and Major Ross said information 
about them would be forthcoming as 
soon as possible, in the meantime re- 
ceiving a list of those made in Tryon 
county cHiring the war, and the mes- 
sages Thompson brought. Ross said 
it was impossible for any officer to con- 
trol the savages when on excursions 
and lie really believed many cruel 



depredations had been committed by 
them on the frontiers which were 
known only to the Indians. He had 
exerted himself to prevent the murder- 
ing of prisoners and said "but the ut- 
most effort could not prevent them 
from taking the scalps of the killed." 
The major said that he was very happy 
that such an unnatural war was ended, 
adding however that war created the 
"soldier's harvest." Ross was much 
upset to learn that the entire state of 
New York, including Oswego and Fort 
Niagara, were to be ceded to the 
United States in the treaty of peace 
then under consideration. 

Captain Thompson was introduced 
to a number of British officers and 
treated with great courtesy, having 
however a verbal tilt with Capt. 
Crawford of Johnson's Greens (who 
invaded the Mohawk valley in 
1778). Says the journal: "This per- 
son comes under that despicable char- 
acter of a loyal subject. He appeared 
to be really ignorant of the cause he 
fought for, and had the wickedness to 
observe that he had made more 
money in the British service in the 
war than he would have made in the 
American service in 100 years." Cap- 
tain Thompson replied that "Ameri- 
can officers fought for principle, not 
money." 

Major Ross wished to send Thomp- 
son back up the Oswego river and 
through Oneida lake to Wood creek in 
his own barge, but the American cap- 
tain said he desired to return, by land 
on the west side of the Oswego to see 
the country, and politely refused the 
courteous offer. The Indians at Os- 
wego iiad heard a rumor that "all their 
lands were to be taken from them and 
that they were to be driven to where 
the sun went down." They had threat- 
ened the life of the American messen- 
ger and were in an ugly mood. Capt. 
Thompson was given a list of the val- 
ley American prisoners then in Can- 
ada that evening. The patriot cap- 
tain, for his own and his comrades' 
safety, deemed it best to depart at once 
and thanking Major Ross for his cour- 
teous treatment, he was again blind- 
folded and led outside the fort down 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



123 



to his companions at the river edge at 
11 o'clock on Sunday evening, April 
27. He took back with him a 14-year- 
old American boy who had been cap- 
tured near Fort Stanwix. Here the 
journal ends. Major Ross had prom- 
ised to send a detachment of British 
troops back with the American party 
over the most dangerous part of their 
journey and it is probable he did so. 
The patriots, retracing their former 
steps, arrived at Fort Plain once 
more, having completed satisfactorily 
their important mission. 

After Capt. Thompson's return, Fort 
Plain must have been the Mecca of 
people from all over the Mohawk val- 
ley who came to learn of friends or 
relatives captive in Canada. 

Thus from Fort Plain was spread 
the first news of approaching peace 
through the valley and to the British 
foe on the borders of New York state. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
1783 — July, Washington's Tour of Mo- 
hawk Valley and Visit to Otsego 
Lake — His Letters Concerning Trip 
— Stops at Palatine, Fort Plain, 
Cherry Valley and Canajoharie — Col. 
Clyde — Final Records of Fort Plain 
or Fort Rensselaer — Last Revolu- 
tionary Indian Murder in Canajo- 
harie District. 

In the spring of 1783, an order for 
the cessation of hostilities between 
Great Britain and the United States 
was published in the camp of the lat- 
ter, but an army organization was 
kept up until fall. As the initiatory 
step to his contemplated tour of ob- 
servation in central New York, Gen. 
Washington wrote to Gen. Philip 
Schuyler, from his Newburgh head- 
quarters, July 15, 1783, as follows: 

"Dear Sir: — I have always enter- 
tained a great desire to see the north- 
ern part of this State, before I return- 
ed Southward. The present irksome 
interval, while we are waiting for the 
definite treaty, affords an opportunity 
of gratifying this inclination. I have 
therefore concerted with Geo. Clinton 
to make a tour to reconnoitre those 
places, where the most remarkable 



posts were established, and the ground 
which became famous by being the 
theatre of action in 1777. On our re- 
turn from thence, we propose to pass 
across the Mohawk river, in order to 
have a view of that tract of country, 
which is so much celebrated for the 
fertility of its soil and the beauty of 
its situation. We shall set out by 
water on Friday the 18th, if nothing 
shall intervene to prevent our journey. 

"Mr. Dimler, assistant quartermas- 
ter-general, who will have the honor 
of delivering this letter, precedes us to 
make arrangements, and particularly 
to have some light boats provided and 
transported to Lake George, that we 
may not be delayed upon our arrival 
there. 

"I pray you, my dear sir, to be so 
good as to advise Mr. Dimler in what 
manner to proceed in this business, to 
excuse the trouble I am about to give 
you, and to be persuaded that your 
kind information and discretion to the 
bearer will greatly increase the obliga- 
tions with which I have the honor to 
be, etc."— Sparks Life, 8, 425. 

On July 16, Washington wrote the 
president of congress as to his intend- 
ed trip. He returned to his headquar- 
ters at Newburgh, August 5, 1783, and 
on the following day, August 6, wrote 
to the congressional president a brief 
record of his journey. After speaking 
of his return, which was by water from 
Albany to Newburgh, he says: 

"My tour, having been extended as 
far northward as Crown Point, and 
westward to Fort Schuyler [Stanwix] 
and its district, and my movements 
having been pretty rapid, my horses, 
which are not yet arrived, will be so 
much fatigued that they will need 
some days to recruit, etc." In another 
letter, of the same date, he refers fur- 
ther to his tour in these words: "I 
was the more particularly induced by 
two considerations to make the tour, 
which in my letter of the 16th ultimo, 
I informed Congress I had in contem- 
plation, and from which I returned 
last evening. The one was the inclina- 
tion to see the northern and western 
posts of the State, with those places 
which have been the theatre of im- 



124 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



portant military transactions; the 
other a desire to facilitate, as far as in 
my power, the operations which will 
be necessary for occupying the posts 
which are ceded by the treaty of peace, 
as soon as they shall be evacuated by 
the British troops." He had his eye 
upon Detroit as a point to be looked 
after and wanted some of the well- 
affected citizens of that place to pre- 
serve the fortifications and buildings 
there "until such time as a garrison 
could be sent with provisions and 
stores sufficient to take and hold pos- 
session of them. The propriety of this 
measure "has appeared in a more forci- 
ble point of light, since I have been up 
the Mohawk river, and taken a view of 
the situation of things in that quar- 
ter. * * * I engaged at Fort Rens- 
selaer [Fort Plain] a gentleman whose 
name is Cassaty, formerly a resident 
of Detroit and who is well recommend- 
ed, to proceed without loss of time, 
find out the disposition of the inhabi- 
tants and make every previous in- 
quiry which might be necessary for the 
information of the Baron on his ar- 
rival, that he should be able to make 
such final arrangements, as the cir- 
cumstances might appear to justify. 
This seemed to be the best alternative 
on failure of furnishing a garrison of 
our troops, which, for many reasons, 
would be infinitely the most eligible 
mode, if the season and your means 
would possibly admit. I have at the 
same time endeavored to take the best 
preparatory steps in my power for 
supplying the garrisons on the western 
waters by the iirovision contract. I can 
only form my magazine at Fort Her- 
kimer on the German Flats, which is 
32 miles by land and almost 50 by 
water from the carrying place between 
the Mohawk river and Wood creek. 
The route by the former is impractic- 
able, in its present state, for carriages 
and the other extremely difficult for 
bateaux, as the river is much obstruct- 
ed with fallen and floating trees, from 
the long disuse of the navigation. That 
nothing, however, which depends upon 
me might be left undone, I have di- 
rected 10 months provisions for 500 
men to be laid up at Fort Herkimer, 



and have ordered Col. Willett, an ac- 
tive officer commanding the troops of 
the state [evidently meaning state 
troops in this locality], to repair the 
roads, remove the obstructions in the 
river, and, as far as can be effected by 
the labors of the soldiers, build houses 
for the reception of the provisions and 
stores at the carrying place [Fort 
Schuyler] in order that the whole may 
be in perfect readiness to move for- 
ward, so soon as the arrangement shall 
be made with Gen. Haldemand [gov- 
ernor general of Canada.]" 

October 12, 1783, Washington wrote 
to the Chevalier Chastelleux, as fol- 
lows: "I have lately made a tour 
through the Lakes George and Cham- 
plain as far as Crown Point. Thence 
returning to Schenectady, I proceeded 
up the Mohawk river to Fort Schuy- 
ler and crossed over to Wood creek, 
which empties into the Oneida lake, 
and affords the water communication 
with Ontario. I then traversed the 
country to the eastern branch of the 
Susquehanna, and viewed the Lake 
Otsego, and the portage between that 
lake and the Mohawk river at Canajo- 
harie. Prompted by these actual ob- 
servations, I could not help taking a 
more extensive view of the vast inland 
navigation of these United States, 
from maps and the information of 
others, and could not but be struck 
by the immense extent and importance 
of it, and with the goodness of Provi- 
dence, which has dealt its favors to us 
with so profuse a hand. Would to 
God we may have wisdom enough to 
improve them. I shall not rest con- 
tented till I have explored the western 
country, and traversed those lines or a 
great portion of them, which have 
given bounds to a new empire. But 
when it may, if it ever shall happen, I 
dare not say, as my first attention 
must be given to the deranged situa- 
tion of my private concerns, which are 
not a little injured by almost nine 
years absence and a total disregard of 
them, etc., etc." 

Simms publishes the following ac- 
count of Washington's visit to Fort 
Plain, during his trip through this sec- 
tion: 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



125 



"The reader will observe by Wash- 
ington's correspondence that he made 
the northern trip by water to Crown 
Point, but from Schenectady to Fort 
Stanwix [Schuyler], or rather its site, 
on horseback. The tour of inspection, 
as shadowed in his letters, is devoid of 
all incident, and whether or not he 
halted at Fort Plain on his way up is 
uncertain; but as he speaks last of 
going to Otsego lake, it is presumed 
he made no halt at the river forts going 
up, nor is there any account of his vis- 
iting Johnstown in his tour, but it is 
reasonable to conclude that he did. He 
did not mention Fort Plain, but it is 
well known that he was there, giving 
it another name [Fort Rensselaer]. 
Arriving in this vicinity [on July 
30, 1783], said the late Cor- 
nelius Mabie, who was thus in- 
formed by his mother, he tarried over 
night with Peter Wormuth, in Pala- 
tine on the late Reuben Lipe farm, the 
former having had an only son killed, 
as elsewhere shown, near Cherry Val- 
ley. It was no doubt known to many 
that he had passed up the valley, who 
were on the quivive to see him on his 
return, and good tradition says that, 
in the morning, many people had as- 
sembled at Wormuth's to see world's 
model man, and to satisfy their curi- 
osity, he walked back and forth in 
front of the house, which fronted to- 
ward the river. This old stone dwell- 
ing in ruins, was totally demolished 
about the year 1865. 

"We have seen that Washington 
found Col. Willett in command at Fort 
Herkimer [then together with Fort 
Dayton, the most advanced frontier 
posts in the state], at which time 
Col. Clyde was in command of 
Fort Plain. Just how many attended 
his Excellency through the Mo- 
hawk valley, is not satisfactor- 
ily known. His correspondence only 
names Gov. George Clinton. Campbell 
in his 'Annals' says he was accompan- 
ied by Gov. Clinton, Gen. Hand and 
many other officers of the New York 
line. The officers making the escort 
were no doubt attended by their aids 
and servants. Whether any other of- 
ficer remained with Washington at 



Wormuth's over night is unknown. It 
is presumed, however, the house being 
small and the fort only a mile off, that 
his attendants all went thither, cross- 
ing at Walrath's Ferry, opposite the 
fort, some of whom returned in the 
morning to escort the Commander-in- 
Chief over the river. [July 31, 
1783] A pretty incident awaited 
his arrival on the eminence near 
the fort. Beside the road Rev. 
Mrs. Gros had paraded a bevy of 
small boys to make their obeisance 
(her nephew, Lawrence Gros, from 
whom this fact was derived, being one 
of the number). At a signal, they took 
off and swung their hats, huzzaed a 
welcome and made their best bow to 
Washington, when the illustrious guest 
gracefully lifted his chapeau and re- 
turned their respectful salutation with 
a cheerful 'Good morning, boys!' Im- 
mediately after, he rode up to the fort 
where he received a military salute 
from the garrison. 

"I suppose Washington to have been 
welcomed within the large blockhouse, 
and on introducing the guest to its 
commandant. Gov. Clinton took occa- 
sion to say to him: 'Gen. Washing- 
ton, this is Col. Clyde, a true Whig and 
a brave officer who has made great 
sacrifices for his country.' The Gen- 
eral answered warmly, 'Then, sir, you 
should remember him in your appoint- 
ments.' From this hint, Gov. Clinton 
afterward appointed him sheriff of 
Montgomery county. Gen. Washing- 
ton dined with Col. Clyde, after 
which, escorted by Maj. Thornton, 
they proceeded to Cherry Valley, 
where they became the guests over 
night, of Col. Campbell, who had re- 
turned not long before and erected a 
log house. Burnt out as the Campbells 
had been, their accommodations were 
limited for so many people, but they 
were all soldiers and had often been 
on short allowance of 'bed and board' 
and could rough it if necessary. Be- 
sides, it is possible other families had 
returned to discover their hospitality 
for the night. They found themselves 
very agreeably entertained, however. 
Mrs. Campbell and her children had 
been prisoners in Canada. In the 



126 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



morning, Gov. Clinton, seeing several 
of her boys, told Mrs. Campbell, 'They 
would make good soldiers in time.' 
She replied she 'hoped their services 
would never be thus needed.' Said 
Washington, 'I hope so too, madam, for 
I have seen enough of war.' One of 
those boys, the late Judge James S. 
Campbell, was captured so young and 
kept so long among the Indians that 
he could only speak their language 
when exchanged. After breakfast the 
party were early in the saddle to visit 
the outlet of Otsego lake, and see 
where Gen. James Clinton dammed the 
lake, just above its outlet, to float his 
boats down the Susquehanna, to join 
in Sullivan's expedition. The party 
returned the same evening to Fort 
Plain, via the portage road opened by 
Clinton to Springfield from Canajo- 
harie, and the next day, as believed, 
they dropped down the valley." 

On reaching Canajoharie, August 1, 
1783, Washington and his company 
were received by Col. Clyde, who had 
ridden down from Fort Plain in the 
morning to receive the commander's 
party on its return from Otsego lake. 
After the destruction of Cherry Valley 
in 1778, Clyde removed his family to 
the neighborhood of Schenectady, 
where they remained until the close of 
hostilities. One account says that, at 
this time (August, 1783) they had re- 
moved to the Van Alstine stone house, 
in the present village of Canajoharie. 
Here, it is said, Washington and his 
party were the guests of Col. and Mrs. 
Clyde at dinner on August 1, 1783. 
Part or all of the distinguished party 
probably returned to spend the night 
at Fort Plain, where there were ac- 
commodations. 

Undoubtedly crowds of valley peo- 
ple gathered at points where Wash- 
ington stopped on his trip. A consider- 
able assemblage of patriots must have 
been present at Fort Plain on this 
eventful long ago midsummer day. 
There had been no severe raids in the 
Canajoharie and Palatine districts in 
two years. The much tried people 
were rebuilding their homes, those who 
had removed to safer localities were 
returning to their abandoned farms, 



and, with the assurance of peace, new 
settlers were already coming in. 

Mr. S. L. Frey gives the following 
list of names of persons who probably 
accompanied General Washington into 
the Mohawk valley in 1783: Gov. 
George Clinton, Gen. Hand, Mr. Dimler 
(assistant quartermaster). Col. David 
Humphries, Hodijah Baylies, Wm. S. 
Smith, Jonathan Trumbull jr.. Tench 
Tilghman, Richard Varick (recording 
secretary), Benjamin Walker, Richard 
K. Mead, David Cobb, and many of- 
ficers of the New York line. 

We see, from the foregoing letters of 
Washington, that at Fort Plain [Fort 
Rensselaer] the commandant of the 
army of the United States engaged "a 
gentleman whose name is Cassaty" (a 
sketch of whom appears later) as his 
personal emissary to Detroit to ob- 
serve the conditions at that important 
post on the lakes, preparatory to its 
American occupation. So that it be- 
comes evident that two messengers at 
Washington's orders, left Fort Plain 
in 1783 on momentous errands for the 
British lake posts of Oswego and 
Detroit. 



Col. Samuel Clyde, then in command 
at Fort Plain, was born in Windham, 
Rockingham county. New Hampshire, 
April 11. 1732, his mother's name being 
Esther Rankin. He worked on his 
father's farm until 20, when he went 
to Cape Breton and labored as a ship 
carpenter, from whence he went to 
Halifax and worked on a dock for the 
English navy. In 1757 he came to New 
Hampshire and raised a company of 
batteaux men and rangers, of which he 
was appointed captain, by Gen. James 
Abercromby, said company being under 
Lieut. Col. John Bradstreet. This 
commission was dated at Albany, May 
25, 1758. He marched his company to 
Albany and to Lake George where he 
fought in the battle of Ticonderoga, 
when Gen. Howe was slain and the 
British defeated. Clyde was after- 
ward at the capture of Fort Frontenac, 
and, returning from the campaign to 
Schenectady, in 1761, he there married 
Catherine Wasson, a niece of Mat- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



127 



thew Thornton, a signer of the Declar- 
ation of Independence. Judge Ham- 
mond, who knew Mrs. Clyde, wrote of 
lier in 1852 as follows: "Mrs. Clyde 
was a woman of uncommon talents, 
both natural and acquired, and of great 
fortitude. She read much and kept up 
with the literature of the day. Her 
style in conversing was peculiarly ele- 
gant, and at the same time easy and 
unaffected. Her manner was digni- 
fied and attractive. Her conversation 
with young men during the Revolu- 
tionary war, tended greatly to raise 
their drooping spirits, and confirm 
their resolution to stand by their 
country to the last." Not a few noble 
women of the frontiers thus made their 
influence felt in the hour of need. 

In 1762 Clyde settled at Cherry Val- 
ley and while here he was employed, 
about 1770, by Sir William Johnson to 
build the church for the use of the 
Indians at the upper Mohawk castle 
in the present town of Danube. At 
the beginning of the country's 
trouble with England, a company 
of volunteers was raised in Cherry 
Valley and New Town Martin for 
home protection, of which Samuel 
Clyde was commissioned its captain 
by the 40 men he was to command, and 
John Campbell, jr., was chosen lieu- 
tenant and James Cannon ensign. 
Among the names of the volunteers 
voting for these officers appears that 
of James Campbell, afterwards colonel. 
Capt. Clyde's commission was dated 
July 13, 1775. Oct. 28, 1775, the state 
provincial congress commissioned him 
as a captain and adjutant of the first 
(Canajoharie) regiment of Tryon coun- 
ty militia. Sept. 5, 1776, he was com- 
missioned second major of the first 
(Canajoharie) regiment commanded by 
Col. Cox. 

After the battle of Oriskany and 
death of Gen. Herkimer, many of the 
officers of the brigade wanted Major 
Clyde to consent to accept the office of 
Brigadier-General, whose appointment 
they would solicit. To this he would 
not accede, as other officers in the 
brigade outranked him and he would 
not countenance an act that would 
originate jealousies, however well mer- 



ited the honors might be. It has ever 
surprised the student that Gen. Herki- 
mer's place remained unfilled during 
the war. That the eye of the army was 
fixed upon Major Clyde for this honor- 
able promotion is not surprising when 
we come to know that of all men in 
that bloody ravine, no one better knew 
his duty or acquitted himself more 
valiantly than he. He was in the 
thickest of the fight, and in a hand to 
hand encounter was knocked down by 
an enemy with the breech of a gun, 
while in another he shot an officer 
whose musket he brought from the 
field to become an heirloom in his 
family. Besides Gen. Herkimer slain, 
and Brigade Inspector Major John 
Frey a prisoner, he is believed to have 
been the only man at Oriskany who 
ranked as high as a captain in the 
French war, which doubtless had 
something to do with the confidence 
reposed in him. 

After Cherry Valley was destroyed 
in 1778, Col. Clyde removed with his 
family to the neighborhood of the Mo- 
hawk where he lived six or seven 
years, at least part of the time in the 
Van Alstine house in the present vil- 
lage of Canajoharie. 

June 25, 1778, Major Clyde was ap- 
pointed lieutenant-colonel of the Cana- 
joharie regiment, James Campbell then 
being colonel. His commission as 
such passed the secretary's ofRce with 
the signature of Gov. George Clinton, 
March 17, 1781. That Clyde was acting 
colonel of this regiment long before the 
date of his commission as lieutenant- 
colonel, there is positive evidence. The 
acting colonels of the Tryon county 
militia in May, 1780, so recognized by 
the government at Albany, were Cols. 
Klock, Visscher, Clyde and Bellinger. 
Col. Clyde seems to have been on duty 
every summer in the bounds of his 
regiment until the close of the war. 
As colonel of the Canajoharie district 
regiment, he would naturally have 
been, as he was, on duty at its princi- 
pal fortification,, Fort Plain, during 
Washington's visit in 1783. On the 
organization of the state government 
in 1777, he was a member of the legis- 
lature. March 8, 1785, true to Wash- 



128 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



ington's pertinent suggestion at Fort 
Plain, he was commissioned as sheriff 
of Montgomery county by Gov. Clin- 
ton, which office he discharged with 
conscientious fidelity. It is said he 
frequently swam his horse across the 
Mohawk at flood tide at Canajoharie 
in order to attend court at Johnstown. 
Simms says: "After the destruc- 
tion, in 1778, of Cherry Valley, Col. 
Campbell made his home at Niska- 
yuna and is not remembered to have 
taken any part in military affairs [in 
this vicinity] after that date." It is 
doubtless true that, although he held 
a lieutenant-colonel's commission, 
Samuel Clyde was recognized by the 
Albany military authorities and the 
Tryon county militia as colonel of the 
Canajoharie regiment, which Clyde 
says was "the best regiment of militia 
in the county." Col. Clyde was the 
leading figure in militia affairs in the 
district of Canajoharie during the 
years 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783. 
He died in Cooperstown Nov. 30, 1790, 
aged 58 years. 



The Cassaty whom Washington "en- 
gaged at Fort Rensselaer" as his emis- 
sary to Detroit was Colonel Thomas 
Cassaty. He married Nancy, a daugh- 
ter of Peter Wormuth and a sister of 
Lieut. Matthew Wormuth, who was 
shot by Brant near Cherry Valley in 
1778. Cassaty was living near or at 
his father-in-law's when Washington 
stopped there (in Palatine near Fort 
Plain) during his valley tour of 1783. 
This probably readily led to his en- 
gagement in the service mentioned. 
Colonel Cassaty as a boy and young 
man was stationed at the British post 
of Detroit, where his father, James 
Cassaty, was a captain in the English 
service. At the outbreak of the Revo- 
lution the two Cassatys, both Ameri- 
can born, sided with the colonists. 
The commandant of Detroit denounced 
Capt. James Cassaty and in the alter- 
cation young Thomas Cassaty, then a 
youth of seventeen, shot down the 
British officer. He then fled into the 
Michigan woods and escaped. He 
lived with the Indians and there is one 
report which says he was the father 



of the noted chief, Tecumseh. Toward 
the end of the war he appeared in the 
Mohawk valley. Colonel Cassaty died 
at Oriskany Falls, Oneida county, 1831, 
aged about 80 years, leaving two sons 
and five daughters. After the Detroit 
affraj% Capt. James Cassaty was con- 
fined in a Canadian dungeon for three 
years. 



It will be noted that Washington 
speaks of Fort Plain as "Fort Rensse- 
laer," this being the name it bore in 
the last four years of the Revolution 
— it being named for the Gen. Van 
Rensselaer, whose conduct was so du- 
bious when there at the operations of 
1780, ending at Klock's Field. 

As previously shown, at the court 
martial of Gen. Van Rensselaer in Al- 
bany for dereliction in the campaign 
of 1780, witnesses referred constantly 
to "Fort Rensselaer or Fort Plain" or 
vice versa. 

Dr. Hough published some years ago, 
an account of the Klock's Field cam- 
paign and the subsequent court martial 
of Gen. Van Rensselaer, showing that 
the latter officer writing from Fort 
Plain — a name which had been estab- 
lished for years — dated his papers at 
"Fort Rensselaer;" anxious, as it would 
seem, to have this principal fort take 
his own name. It is believed that 
never before that time it had ever been 
called by any other name than Fort 
Plain. About three years later Gen- 
eral Washington was here and dated 
his correspondence from "Fort Rensse- 
laer," and others probably did so, un- 
aware that the name of the fort had 
been changed. The following docu- 
ment, from the papers of the late Wil- 
liam H. Seeber, shows how the vanity 
of the inefficient soldier had tempor- 
arily affected the name Fort Plain: 

"By virtue of the appointment of his 
Excellency, George Clinton, Esq., Gov- 
ernor of the State of New York, 
etc., etc. 

"We do hereby, in pursuance of an 
act entitled an act to amend an act, en- 
titled an act to accommodate the in- 
habitants of the frontier, with habita- 
tions and other purposes therein men- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



129 



tioned, passed the 22d of March, 1781 
— Grant unto William Seeber, Peter 
Adams, George Garlock and Henry 
Smith, license and liberty to cut and 
remove wood or timber from the lands 
of John Laile (or Lail), George Kraus, 
John Fatterle, John Plaikert, Wellem 
(William) Fenck, George Ekar, John 
Walrath and Henry Walrath, lying 
contiguous to Fort Plain, being a place 
of defense, for fuel, fencing and timber 
for the use of the first above mentioned 
persons. 

"Given under our hands at Canajo- 
harie. this 8th day of November, 1782. 

Christian Nellis, 

M. Willett, 

Commissioners." 

This instrument was drawn up in the 
handwriting of Squire Nellis and taken 
to Col. Willett to sign. In the hand- 
writing of the latter and with the ink 
of his signature, Willett crossed off the 
word "Plain" and interlined the name 
"Rensselaer." Simms says: "It seems 
surprising that Col. Willett, who so 
disapproved of changing the name of 
Fort Stanwix, should have connived at 
changing the name of Fort Plain; and 
it can only be accounted for by pre- 
suming that he was thereby courting 
the influence of wealth and position." 
The foregoing quotation does not co- 
incide with Willett's sturdy character, 
and it seems entirely probable that 
Van Rensselaer had succeeded in hav- 
ing his name adopted, at least for the 
time, as the official designation of Fort 
Plain. 

The foregoing chapter is taken en- 
tirely from Simms's "Frontiersmen of 
New York," with some few additions. 

S. L. Frey says, in his interesting 
paper on "Fort Rensselaer," (published 
in the Mohawk Valley Register, March 
6, 1912): 

"In 1786, Capt. B. Hudson was in 
command of the place, taking care of 
the stores and other government prop- 
erty. As this is the last time that 
'Fort Rensselaer' is mentioned as far 
as I can find, I give a copy of an old 
receipt: 

Fort Rancelaiir, Aug. 22d, 1786. 
State of New York, Dr. 
To John Lipe, Senior. 



For Timber Building the Blockhouse, 
for fire wood, Fancing & Possession of 
the Place by the Troops of the United 
States Under the Command of Colonel 
Willet one hundred & fifty Pounds, 
being the amount of my Damage. 

his 
John X Lipe. 
mark 
Witness Present 

B. Hudson. 

From this it will be seen that Jo- 
hannes Lipe had not been paid for his 
timber, used in the blockhouse six 
years before. Following this receipt is 
a note by Rufus Grider, the former 
antiquarian of Canajoharie: 

"Copy of a paper found and obtained 
on the Lipe Farm, where Fort Plain 
and Fort Rensselair was located. The 
present owners are the descendants of 
the Lipe who owned it during and 
after the Revolution; the ownership 
has not gone out of the family. 

R. A. Grider. 

June 17, 1894." 

Mr. Frey continues: "We thus have 
a continuous mention of 'Fort Rens- 
selair,' as another name for Fort Plain, 
from Sept. 4, 1780, to Aug. 22, 1786. It 
would be well if the old Revolutionary 
families in the vicinity would examine 
any paper they may have relating to 
that period; possibly we might find 
that 'Fort Rensselair' is mentioned 
after 1786." 



Thus we are able to trace the history 
of the Fort Plain fortifications through 
a period of ten years of important ser- 
vice. Although the fort and block- 
house probably stood for some years 
after 1786, reference to Fort Plain, 
after that date, implies the Sand Hill 
settlement (which took its name from 
the fort) and the later village which 
thus became known during the con- 
struction of the Erie canal. The name 
has thus been in existence for a period 
of almost 140 years. How long Fort 
Plain or Fort Rensselaer continued to 
exist as an army post after 1786 is not 
now known. 



The accounts to follow deal with 
western Montgomery county and with 
the settlement adjacent to Fort Plain, 



130 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



known as Sand Hill and Fort Plain 
and a continuation of the record of 
life and events, in the old Canajoharie 
and Palatine districts, until about 
1825, when the old settlement ceased 
to be important and the new canal 
town which sprang up adopted the 
honored name of Fort Plain. For con- 
venience the end of the second series 
of sketches is put at 1838, the date of 
the severance of Montgomery and 
Fulton counties. Washington's visit 
to Fort Plain properly marks the end 
of the first series of chapters of the 
story of old Fort Plain. 



The last victims of savage marau- 
ders near Fort Plain were Frederick 
Young and a man named House, of 
the town of Minden. They were in a 
field when a small party of Indians 
shot them both down. Young was not 
killed and when an Indian stooped 
over to scalp him, the victim seized 
the knife, the blade nearly severing his 
fingers. Both were scalped but Young 
was found alive and taken to Fort 
Plank, where he died before night. 
The two Minden men were shot within 
sight of the fort but the Indians got 
away before the patriot militia could 
assemble to engage them. This event 
happened in 1783, eight days after the 
inhabitants had news that peace had 
been ratified, and it is probable that 
the savages had not heard of this. 



One of the first murder trials in the 
Johnstown jail after the war was that 
of John Adam Hartmann, a Revolu- 
tionary veteran, for killing an Indian 
in 1783. They met at a tavern in the 
present town of Herkimer, and the 
savage excited Hartmann's abhorrence 
by boasting of murders and scalpings 
performed by him during the war, and 
particularly by showing him a tobacco 
pouch made froni the skin of the hand 
and part of the arm of a white child 
with the finger nails remaining at- 
tached. Hartmann said nothing at the 
time and the two left the tavern on 
their journey together, traveling a 
road which led through a dense forest. 
Here the savage's body was found a 
year later. Hartmann was acquitted 



for lack of evidence. He had been a 
ranger at Fort Dayton. On a foray, in 
which he killed an Indian, at almost 
the same instant, he was shot and 
wounded by a Tory. Hartmann was 
a famous frontiersman and had many 
adventures. He was a fine type of the 
intrepid soldiers in the tried and true 
militia of Tryon county. 



Following are the i^rincipal events 
of 1783 summarized: The treaty of 
peace with Great Britain, acknowledg- 
ing the independence of the United 
States of America was signed in Paris, 
Sept. 3, 1783; 1783, Nov. 25, "Evacua- 
tion Day," British left New York and 
an American force under Gen. Wash- 
ington and Gov. Clinton entered New 
York city, shortly after which Wash- 
ington bade farewell to his officers at 
Fraunce's Tavern in that city and left 
for Mount Vernon, Md., his journey 
through New Jersey, Pennsylvania and 
Maryland being a triumphial tour; 
1783, Dec. 23, Washington resigned his 
command of the American army to 
congress at Annapolis, Md. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
1775-1783— Review of Mohawk Valley 
Events — Tryon County Militia Rec- 
ords — Territory Covered in These 
Sketches. 

With this chapter are concluded the 
first two periods of the history of 
the middle Mohawk valley — that of 
settlement and that of the war of the 
Revolution. At almost every point 
this story touches that of the nation. 
Just as Walt Whitman sings of man 
as representative of the race and the 
race as the single man multiplied, so, 
in this history of the Mohawk coun- 
try, we see the growing nation and in 
viewing the land of America we get a 
diminished yet clear prospect of our 
own valley. Thus while following the 
current of local life and events we are 
borne along as well on the great 
stream of national life. 

In the foregoing chapters, mention 
has been made of the connection of 
the men of the Mohawk country with 
the decisive event of the Revolution — 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



131 



the success of the Americans in the 
1777 campaign against Burgoyne and 
St. Leger. A further instance of the 
vital interlocliing of our story with 
that greater one of the United States, 
is evidenced in that thrilling first en- 
counter of the Iroquois with the 
French power, represented by Cham- 
plain and his Canadian savages. The 
shots fired by the Frenchman into the 
ranks of the red men of the Five Na- 
tions gave us these United States, for 
it made the Iroquois enemies of the 
French power forever. They formed 
a bulwark against the encroachment 
of the Gallic dominion and may, at 
that early date, have prevented France 
from conquering the greater part of 
the thirteen colonies. Thus it is that 
the shot of an arquebus, on the shore 
of a lonely lake, or the death struggle 
of a few hundred farmers in a forest 
fight, may settle the destinies of a na- 
tion. A further instance of past condi- 
tions affecting the present is evidenced 
in the state of New York, the boun- 
daries of which were largely deter- 
mined by the Dutch settlements along 
the Hudson and the territory occupied 
by the Five Nations. It has also been 
stated that the successful example of 
the Iroquois confederacy had a con- 
siderable influence in formation of the 
United States of America. 

The Revolutionary record of Tryon 
county, besides detailing the defense 
against British invasion of the New 
York frontier, is concerned with two 
great national military movements of 
the war^the vital defeat of Burgoyne 
at Saratoga (to which the successful 
defense of Fort Schuyler contributed) 
and the Sullivan and Clinton invasion 
of the Indian country, in connection 
with which occurred the march of the 
New York detachment of the Ameri- 
can army along the Mohawk to Cana- 
joharie, the rendezvous there, the cut- 
ting of a road through the wilderness 
to Otsego lake and the subsequent 
unique march thither of Clinton's 
force, convoying the river flatboats 
with their supplies, loaded on eight- 
horse wagons and oxcarts. This cam- 
paign was one of the most noteworthy 
of the war and the Mohawk valley side 



of it seems to have never received the 
full and proper presentation that it 
merits. 

The Tryon county infantry and mi- 
litia, as has been shown, had been in- 
strumental in the American success of 
the Saratoga campaign. Creasy calls 
this one of the fifteen decisive battles 
of the world (up to 1855) and mentions 
the British checks at Fort Stanwix 
(Schuyler) and at Bennington as 
strongly influencing the final defeat of 
Burgoyne and the British army. Of 
this historically great battle Lord 
Mahon wrote: 

"Even of those great conflicts, in 
which hundreds of thousands have 
been engaged and tens of thousands 
have fallen, none has been more fruit- 
ful of results than this surrender * * 
at Saratoga." 

The victory at Stillwater was de- 
cisive not only in ensuring American 
independence but it eventually brought 
about American predominance over 
the western hemisphere. To this great 
world result the men of the Mohawk 
contributed, at Oriskany and Fort 
Schuyler, as much as if they had 
fought on the field of Stillwater itself, 
where some of them were also en- 
gaged. 

The record of the Mohawk country 
garrisons and the militia of Tryon 
county is one of the best of the Amer- 
ican soldiery of the Revolution. Wher- 
ever the Tryon county men met the 
enemy on anything like equal footing 
they had beaten them. Under good 
leaders like Willett they had proved 
the best of rangers and line of battle 
men. The feats of scouts like Helmer 
and Demuth are fit subjects for song 
and legend, and the deeds of the Am- 
erican man behind the gun, on the 
fields of Tryon county, make stories 
which will hold the interest of Mo- 
hawk valley folk for centuries to come. 

It would be interesting if the com- 
position of the different Tryon county 
garrisons, throughout the Revolution, 
could be known. Future research may 
show them, and it may be here men- 
tioned that the history of the Mohawk 
valley during the war for independ- 
ence should be made the subject of a 



]32 



THE STORY OF OLD PORT PLAIN 



comprehensive work, treating the mat- 
ter in complete form. It furnishes as 
interesting material as that of any 
region of similar extent within the 
limits of the original thirteen colonies. 

Occasional glimpses have been 
caught, in the foregoing chapters of 
the garrisons and the commanders 
of the army posts of present western 
Montgomery county — Fort Plain, Fort 
Paris, Fort Windecker, Fort Willett, 
Fort Plank, Fort Clyde. We know 
from the frequent recurrence of the 
names of families then resident along 
the Mohawk, in the accounts of the 
Revolutionary movements of the Tryon 
county American forces, that- the 
patriot army in the Mohawk country 
was always largely composed of local 
men. They are frequently spoken of 
as militia but their years of service 
made them as efficient as regulars, and 
they were such in every sense espec- 
ially during the latter years of the war. 

We have records of Tryon county 
men who were engaged in many of the 
military movements hereabouts during 
the Revolution. There were undoubt- 
edly scores who fought at Oriskany 
who took part in all of the later con- 
flicts. This was especially true of the 
Palatine and Canajoharie district men, 
as their territory was the scene of most 
of the important events after Oriskany. 
We have one record of a Canajoharie 
district man who took part in the first 
and last Revolutionary military move- 
ments in the Mohawk valley. This 
was John Roof jr., who fought at 
Oriskany in 1777 and went with Wil- 
lett on the expedition to Fort Oswego 
in 1783. He was probably in military 
service, in the intervening years and 
there were scores like him. At the 
end of hostilities, about 1782, these 
Tryon county soldiers entered upon 
the reclamation of their farm lands 
and the rebuilding of their homes as 
vigorously as they had opposed the 
motley savages employed by England 
to ravage their country during the six 
years from 1777 to 1782. 

That the valley Revolutionary sol- 
diers of Tryon county were men of the 
greatest physical hardihood is plainly 
evident. Proof of this is seen in the 



many instances of their long marches 
over rough ground and, at the end of 
these "hikes," frequently the infantry 
went into battle. In 17S0, Van Rens- 
selaer's army, from the neighborhood 
of Albany, marched to Keator's rift at 
Sprakers, a distance of over fifty miles, 
and at the close of their second day 
in Montgomery county, after marching 
over ten miles more, went into action 
at Klock's Field. On this day, from the 
time they left their camping ground 
in the town of Florida, they covered 
thirty miles and fought a battle as 
well. On the evening of the day of 
the appearance of Ross and Butler and 
their raiders (Oct. 24, 1781), Colonel 
Willett and his four hundred fighters, 
from Fort Plain and the neighboring 
posts, marched through the night to 
Fort Hunter (a distance of twenty 
miles), reaching there the next morn- 
ing, October 25. After a strenuous 
time crossing the Mohawk, the Ameri- 
cans made a further journey of nine or 
ten miles, when they went into action 
and won the victory of Johnstown. 
They had tramped thirty miles and 
won a hard victory in a night and a 
day. After a day's rest, the troops 
continued the pursuit of the beaten 
enemy to Jerseyfield on West Canada 
creek, where they killed Butler and 
many of his band and scattered Ross's 
force completely. On their return to 
Fort Dayton, they had covered over 60 
miles of ground under winter condi- 
tions, suffering great hardships, and 
had performed this feat in four days 
on two days rations. The Fort Plain 
soldiers in this campaign, covered 
150 miles from their start until the 
time they returned to their barracks. 
The great physical vigor of the men of 
the Mohawk country is also shown in 
the amusing incident of the footrace 
.between a company of scouts and a 
company of infantry, on the Freysbush 
road, while on the march back to Fort 
Plain. It is to be regretted that con- 
ditions which produced such men of 
iron in the valley could not have con- 
tinued to give us men of equal vigor. 
Besides this evidence of the gener- 
ally fine physical condition of the val- 
ley Americans, the previous chapters 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



133 



have given abundant proof of the in- 
dividual military valor and physical 
prowess of men like Herkimer, Clyde, 
Dillenbeck, Willett, Stockwell, Gardi- 
nier, Helmer, Demuth, Grouse, Vols, 
Woodworth, and a host of others. 

Some years ago the state of New 
York published part of its Revolu- 
tionary records in a volume entitled 
"New York in the Revolution." This 
is a roster of the regular troops and 
militia raised in New York during the 
war of independence and includes the 
Tryon county militia. Many of the 
names are misspelled but this roll of 
the local militia forms a record of 
the families settled in the country of 
the Mohawks at the time of the Revo- 
lution. Regarding the Tryon county 
list. State Historian James A. Holden, 
says: "I am doubtful as to how many 
of the men served in more than one 
regiment or capacity. The names are 
apt to be doubled, as the terms of en- 
rollment were very lax and a man 
might be on more than one regiment 
roll at a time, as I am informed. How- 
ever the number given is approximate 
and can be so stated in your work." 
In the publication referred to the en- 
rolled men's names are given. No date 
is attached to any of the lists. Below 
is summarized the numbers of each 
organization together with its officers, 
from the county of Tryon: 

Tryon County Brigade of Militia: 
First Regiment (Canajoharie dis- 
trict). Officers: Colonel, Samuel 
Campbell; colonel, Ebenezer Cox 
(killed at OriskanjO ; lieutenant-col- 
onel, Samuel Clyde; major, Abraham 
Copeman; major, Peter S. Dygert; ad- 
jutant, Jacob Seeber; quartermaster, 
John Pickard; surgeon, Adam Frank; 
surgeon, David Younglove. Summary: 
Staff, 9; line, 38; men, 552; total, 599. 
Col. Clyde was acting colonel after 
1778. 

Second Regiment (Palatine district). 
Officers: Colonel, Jacob Klock; lieu- 
tenant-colonel, Peter Wagner; major. 
Christian William Fox; major, Chris- 
topher Fox; adjutant, Samuel Gray; 
adjutant, Andrew Irvin; quartermas- 
ter, Jacob Eacker; surgeon, Johann 



Georg Vach. Summary: Staff, 8; 
line, 43; men, 615; total, 666. 

Third Regiment (Mohawk district). 
Officers: Colonel, Frederick Visscher 
(Fisher); lieutenant-colonel, Volkert 
Veeder; major, John Bluen (Bliven?); 
major, John Nukerk; adjutant, Peter 
Conyn; adjutant, John G. Lansing jr.; 
adjutant, Gideon Marlatt; quarter- 
master, Abraham Van Horn; quarter- 
master, Simon Veeder; surgeon, John 
George Folke (Vach?); surgeon, Wil- 
liam Petry. Summary: Staff, 12; line, 
62; men, 651; total, 725. 

Fourth Regiment (German Flats and 
Kingsland). Officers: Colonel, Peter 
Bellinger; adjutant, George Demuth; 
quartermaster, Peter Bellinger. Sum- 
mary: Staff, 3; line, 20; men, 415; 
total, 438. The foregoing list of staff 
officers for this fourth regiment is, of 
course, incomplete. 

Fifth Regiment (Schoharie valley?). 
There is no list of men given. John 
Harper was colonel. 

Battalion (company?) Minute Men. 
Officers: Colonel, Samuel Campbell; 
captain, Francis Utt; lieutenant, Adam 
Lipe; lieutenant, Jacob Matthias; en- 
sign, William Suber (Seeber?). Sum- 
mary: Staff, 1; line, 4; men, 60; total, 
65. Col. Campbell removed to Niska- 
yuna, below Schenectady, in 1779 and 
had no share in Tryon county military 
matters after that date. 

Battalion Rangers (Scouts), First 
Company: Captain, John Winn; lieu- 
tenant, Lawrence Gros; lieutenant, 
Peter Schremling. Second company: 
Captain, Christian Getman; lieuten- 
ant, James Billington; lieutenant. 
Jacob Sammans (Sammons?). Third 
company: Captain, John Kasselman; 
lieutenant, John Empie; ensign, George 
Gittman (Getman). Summary: Of- 
ficers. 9; men, 155; total, 164. 

Associated "exempts." Captain, 
Jelles Fonda; lieutenant, Zephaniah 
Batchellor; lieutenant, Abraham Gar- 
rason; ensign, Samson Sammon 

(Sampson Sammons); ensign, 

Lawrance. Summary: Line, 5; men, 
159; total, 164. These were invalids 
or men beyond the age of military ser- 
vice (then about 60 years) who were 
organized for defense, while the ac- 



134 



THE STORY OP^ OLD FORT PLAIN 



tive men were absent on military duty. 
They could be called upon in case of 
great emergency. 

The total of the Tryon county mi- 
litia foots up 2,830 men. This does 
not include the fifth regiment which 
evidently came from the Schoharie 
valley and of which there are no 
records in "New York in the Revolu- 
tion." This is not a chronicle of the 
Schoharie valley (a separate region), 
but only of the land of the Mohawk 
or the central Mohawk river section, 
and the Schoharie valley is only treat- 
ed where it passes through present 
Montgomery county or where it affects 
this story. 

In 1781 Colonel Willett was in com- 
mand of a regiment of "levies" at Fort 
Plain as aforementioned. These were 
men drafted into service, and included 
many men from the settlers along the 
Mohawk. A list of these levies is 
given in "New York in the Revolu- 
tion," which is here summarized as 
follows: Officers: Colonel, Marinus 
Willett; lieutenant colonel, John Mc- 
Kinstry; major, Andrew Fink (major 
of brigade) ; major, Lyman Hitchcock 
(muster master) ; major, Josiah 
Throop; major, Elias Van Bunscho- 
ten; adjutant, Jelles A. Fonda; adju- 
tant, Pliny Moore; quartermaster, 
John Fondey (Fonda) ; quartermaster, 
Matthew Trotter; quartermaster, Ja- 
cob Winney; paymaster, Abraham 
Ten Eyck; surgeon, Calvin Delano; 
surgeon. William Petry; surgeon's 
mate, George Faugh; surgeon's mate, 
Moses Willard; chaplain, John Daniel 
Gros (pastor of the Canajoharle dis- 
trict Reformed Dutch church at Fort 
Plain). Summary: Staff, 17; line, 75; 
men, 916; total, 1,008. These men 
were probably distributed among the 
principal valley posts and acted in 
conjunction with the Tryon county 
militia. This regiment may have 
done duty in the valley a large part of 
the last three years of the war. On 
page 68 of "New York in the Revolu- 
tion" is recorded a regiment of 
"levies" of which Col. John Harper 
was commandant. On page 77 is 
given another of which Col. Lewis Du- 
bois was in command. The Revolu- 



tionary records are frequently frag- 
mentary and incomplete and, as be- 
fore stated, there is no date given with 
each roll so that it is impossible to 
tell at just what period of the war the 
different bodies listed were engaged. 
It may be that they include all the 
men enrolled in each militia organiza- 
tion throughout the war, or even all 
the men liable for military duty in 
each district. 

In consideration of all the Revolu- 
tionary history in the chapters fore- 
going it must be remembered that the 
events recorded all occurred in the 
great county of Tryon, of which Johns- 
town was the civip center and Fort 
Plain the military headquarters, dur- 
ing the last four years of the war — 
1780, 1781, 1782, 1783. 

It will be noted that all the Mo- 
hawk valley military actions, with the 
exception of Oriskany and West Can- 
ada creek, occurred within a fifteen- 
mile radius of Fort Plain, and this is 
the region especially considered in all 
the chapters of this work, comprising 
as it did the Mohawk river sections 
of the Canajoharie and Palatine dis- 
tricts of Tryon, later Montgomery 
county. 

This history, als3, in full detail, 
covers the middle valley country oc- 
cupied by the Mohawks, during the 
greater part of the historical period 
and in which their settlements were 
located exclusively during the last 
century of their valley tribal exist- 
ence. Here much Indian life was cen- 
tered, all of which is of great interest 
to the student of Indian lore and 
which would fill a considerable volume. 
At Indian Hill, on a branch of the Ots- 
quago south of Fort Plain, are found 
some of the earliest Indian remains in 
eastern New York. This interesting 
spot is considered in a later chapter 
on the town of Minden. The Mohawk 
valley, from the Schoharie river to Fall 
Hill, seems to have been the home of 
the Mohawks from the earliest histor- 
ical times. However, the seats of their 
castles and villages were frequently 
changed within this territory. The 
river section lietween Fall Hill and the 
Noses has been called Canajoharie by 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



135 



the Mohawks, evidently from the ear- 
liest times. 

Their later chief villages, as shown in 
the foregoing chapters, were at Fort 
Hunter and Indian Castle. This river 
country occupied by the Mohawks is 
here treated in detail historically as 
well as the Canajoharie and Palatine 
districts. So that "The Story of Old 
Fort Plain," is, in truth, a history of 
old Tryon and Montgomery countJ^ of 
the country of the Mohawk Iroquois 
(from the time of its discovery) which 
is also the middle Mohawk valley, of 
the Canajoharie and Palatine dis- 
tricts and the five western towns of 
present Montgomery county, as well 
as the "Story of Old Fort Plain." It 
is all of these because the stories of 
them are so interwoven that it is bet- 
ter to here present the whole fabric to 
the view of the reader than it is to 
tear it apart and attempt to show the 
different threads separately. 

In a general way, also, the history of 
the valley, within a radius of fifty 
miles of Fort Plain, is treated during 
the first three periods of its history 
(from 1616 to 1838). This enables the 
reader to gain a clearer idea of the 
life and events of the smaller area 
aforementioned, which is considered 
in great detail and from every view- 
point. 

The foregoing chapters offer an op- 
portunity of close acquaintance with 
many actively connected with the 
thrilling events of the Revolution and 
with the life of the times. It is prob- 
able that mention has been made in 
this work, of the majority of families 
or heads of families in the Canajo- 
harie and Palatine districts. The be- 
ginnings of human things are extra-' 
ordnarily interesting to human beings 
and, in the chapters dealing with the 
first three periods of the history of 
the country of the Mohawks, we see 
the individuals themselves, who make 
up the locaJ communities and live 
again with them their lives of peace 
or war on the hills and in the vales of 
this fair northland country. 

The growing population makes it 
impossible to consider individuals, in 
this local record, after the end of the 



third period of Montgomery history 
(1838) and, after that date, the valley 
hereabouts is treated historically and 
in a general way without reference to 
people individually, except where the 
mention of names is absolutely nec- 
essary to the continuity of the story. 

The succeeding chapters cover the 
third and fourth periods of the history 
of the country of the Mohawks, in its 
relation to the old Canajoharie and 
Palatine districts, whose river sec- 
tions are now largely comprised with- 
in the present limits of the five west- 
ern towns of Montgomery county. 
Here we see a similar linking to- 
gether of local with national history in 
the matter of the valley's highways 
and waterways. The Mohawk route to 
the west, by its natural formation, was 
and is probably the most important in 
the eastern states. It was largely 
through it that the tide of westward 
emigration flowed and through it east 
traded with the west from the earliest 
times. Its highways and great rail- 
roads follow the old Indian trails and 
the Barge canal, in its eastern sec- 
tion, covers largely the exact route 
frnm the Hudson to the Great Lakes, 
followed by the Indian canoe and the 
Mohawk flatboat. The Erie and the 
subsequent railroads, made the na- 
tion, the state, the metropolis and the 
valley great, populous and rich 
in material things, as it is today. On 
the completion of the Erie canal, the 
trade and traffic it brought, to and 
through New York, raised it from a 
secondary to a first position among 
the states and its metropolis quickly 
became the largest city in the western 
hemisphere. 

Rich in material things our valley is 
indeed today, according to modern 
ideas, albeit it is poorer far in its 
natural resources than it was when 
the Dutch made their first settlements 
in its eastern part two centuries and 
a half ago. Tt is for the men of today 
and of the future to conserve the 
natural wealth remaining and to bring 
back, as much as possible, that which 
has been lost and wasted — particularly 
the health-giving and soil-preserving 
forest. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 

(SECOND SERIES 1784-1838) 



CHAPTER I. 

1784-1838— Mohawk Valley After the 
Revolution — Constructive Period — 
Montgomery County and its Divis- 
ions — Towns and Their Changes. 

The Revolutionary struggle had 
well-nigh destroyed the one-time 
prosperous farming community along 
the Mohawk and in its adjacent terri- 
tory. This section had been more 
harried, by the enemy and their red 
allies, than any other part of the thir- 
teen colonies. Raid after raid had 
swept down from Canada over the fair 
valley, burning, plundering, and mur- 
dering. Stoutly had the sturdy peo- 
ple fought back their dreadful foe. 
The savage enemy had been again and 
again beaten back from the Mohawk, 
but the bloody contest had left the 
population greatly depleted and the 
farm land in ruin and rapidly going 
back to the wilderness from which it 
had been wrestejd. Those of faint 
heart and of Tory leanings had fled 
the country and the patriot families 
who were left were often sadly broken. 
Numbers of defenseless women and 
little children had been struck down 
by the savage tomahawk and the 
bones of the men of Tryon county 
whitened the fields where battle and 
skirmish had been bitterly fought. 
The bravery of the women, and even 
the children, of the patriot families, 
amid the bloody scenes of the Revolu- 
tion, had been remarkable in the ex- 
treme. Terrific as had been the mur- 
derous destruction, along the Mo- 
hawk, yet a wonderful rejuvenesence 
and rapid growth were to follow. The 
years ensuing were ones of great 
development of the farmlands, in- 
crease of population and steps, for the 
furtherance of transportation and 



commerce, which were eventually to 
make the Mohawk valley one of the 
greatest arteries of trade and traffic 
in the entire world. 

Toward the close of the war. Col. 
Willett sent to Gen. Washington a 
lengthy statement of the condition of 
affairs in Tryon county, from which it 
appears that, whereas at the opening 
of the struggle the enrolled militia of 
the county numbered not less than 
2,500, there were then not more than 
800 men liable to bear arms, and not 
more than 1,200 who could be taxed 
or assessed for the raising of men for 
the public service. To account for so 
large a reduction of the Tryon people, 
it was estimated that, of the number 
by which the population had been de- 
creased, one-third had been killed or 
made prisoners; one-third had gone 
over to the enemy; and one-third for 
the time being, had abandoned the 
country. Beers's history says: 

"The suffering of the unfortunate 
inhabitants of the Mohawk valley were 
the measure of delight, wdth which 
they had hailed the return of peace. 
The dispersed population returned to 
the blackened ruins of their former 
habitations, rebuilt their houses and 
again brought their farms under cul- 
tivation. With astounding audacity, 
the Tories now began to sneak back 
again and claim peace and property 
among those whom they had impover- 
ished and bereaved. It was not to be 
expected that this would be tolerated. 
The outraged feelings of the commun- 
ity found the following expression at 
a meeting of the principal Inhabi- 
tants of the Mohawk district, May 9, 
1783: 

"Taking into consideration the pe- 
culiar circumstances of this county 
relating to its situation, and the num- 



THE 8T0RY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



137 



bers that joined the enemy from 
among us, whose brutal barbarities in 
their frequent visits to their old neigh- 
bors arc too shocking to humanity to 
relate: 

"They have murdered the peaceful 
husbandmen, and his lovely boys 
about him unarmed and defenceless 
in the field. They have, with ma- 
licious pleasure, butchered the aged 
and infirm; they have wantonly 
sported with the lives of helpless 
women and children, numbers they 
have scalped alive, shut them up in 
their houses and burnt them to death. 
Several children, by the vigilance of 
their friends, have been snatched 
from flaming buildings; and though 
tomahawked and scalped, are still liv- 
ing among us; they have made more 
than 300 widows and above 2,000 or- 
phans in this county; they have killed 
thousands of cattle and horses that 
rotted in the field; they have burnt 
more than two million bushels of 
grain, many hundreds of buildings, 
and vast stores of forage; and now 
these merciless fiends are creeping in 
among us again to claini the privilege 
of fellow-citizens, and demand a res- 
titution of their forfeited estates; but 
can they leave their infernal tempers 
liehind them and be safe or peaceable 
neighbors? Or can the disconsolate 
widow and the bereaved mother recon- 
cile her tender feelings to a free and 
cheerful neighborhood with those who 
so inhumanly made her such? Im- 
possible! It is contrary to nature, the 
first principle of which is self-preser- 
vation. It is contrary to the law of 
nations, especially that nation which 
for numberless reasons, we should be 
thought to pattern after. ***** 
It is contrary to the eternal rule of 
reason and rectitude. If Britain em- 
ployed them, let Britain pay them. We 
will not; therefore, 'Resolved, unani- 
mously, that all those who ha\'e gone 
off to the enemy or have been ban- 
ished by any law of this state, or 
those, who we shall find, tarried as 
spies or tools of the enemy, and en- 
couraged and harbored those who went 
away, shall not live in this district on 
any pretence whatever; and as for 
those who have washed their faces 
from Indian paint and their hands 
from the innocent blood of our dear 
ones, and have returned, either openly 
or covertly, we hereby warn them to 
leave this district before the 20th of 
June next, or they may expect to feel 
the just resentment of an injured and 
determined people. 

" 'We likewise, unanimously desire 
our brethren in the other districts in 
the county to join with us to instruct 
our representatives not to consent to 
the repealing any laws made for the 
safety of the state against treason, or 



confiscation of traitors' estates, or to 
passing any new acts for the return 
or restitution of Tories.' 

" 'By order of the meeting. 
" 'Josiah Thorp, Chairman.' " 

Notwithstanding these sentiments 
of the Whigs, numbers of Tories did 
return and settle among their old 
neighbors. The Mohawk lands, which 
were considerable before the war, were 
confiscated and the tribe were granted 
homes in Canada, as has been stated in 
the sketch of Brant. 

During the revolution, the English 
governor, in honor of whom Tryon 
county was named, rendered the title 
odious by a series of infamous acts 
in the service of the Crown, and the 
New York legislature, on the 2d of 
April, 1784, voted that the county 
should be called Montgomery, in 
honor of Gen. Richard Montgomery, 
who fell in the attack on Quebec, 
early in the war. At the beginning of 
the Revolution, the population of the 
county was estimated at 10,000. At 
the close of the war it had probably 
been reduced to almost one-third of 
that number, but so inviting were the 
fertile lands of the county, that in 
three years after the return of peace 
(1786) it had a population of 15,000. 
Doubtless many of these were people 
who had deserted their valley homes 
at the beginning of hostilities and who 
now returned to settle again among 
their patriot neighbors who had borne 
the brunt of the struggle, and who had 
so nobly furthered the cause of Am- 
erican rule. By 1800 the population 
of present Montgomery county can 
safely be estimated at 10,000, almost 
entirely settled on the farms. 

The boundaries of the several coun- 
ties in the state were more minutely 
defined, March 7, 1788, and Montgom- 
ery was declared to contain all that 
part of the state bounded east by the 
counties of Ulster, Albany, Washing- 
ton and Clinton and south by the state 
of Pennsylvania. What had been dis- 
tricts in Tryon county were, with the 
exception of Old England, made towns 
in Montgomery county, the Mohawk 
district forming two towns, Caugh- 
nawaga north of the river and Mo- 



138 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



hawk south of it. The Palatine and 
Canajoharie districts were organized 
as towns, retaining those names. Thus 
after an existence of sixteen years, 
principally during the Revolutionary 
period, the old Tryon districts experi- 
enced their first change. 

The presence of the warlike Mo- 
hawks and their use as allies on the 
frontier, had saved the valley savages 
their lands until about the year 1700. 
Notice has been made of the Dutch, 
German and British immigration after 
that date into the Mohawk valley. 
With the virtual breaking down of the 
Iroquois confederacy on account of 
the Revolution, their wide lands were 
thrown open for settlement .and, after 
1783, another and greater tide of im- 
migration set in along the Mohawk. 

The war had made people of other 
states and of other sections of New 
York familiar with Tryon county. 
Sullivan and Clinton's campaign, in 
the Iroquois country, had particularly 
revealed the fertility of the western 
part of the state, and a tide of emi- 
gration thither set in at the close of 
the war, mostly by way of the Mohawk 
valley. The river had been the first 
artery of transportation and traffic. 
Now it began to be rivaled by turn- 
pike travel. Later water travel was 
to resume first place after the dig- 
ging of the Erie canal, afterward to 
be again superseded by land traffic 
when the railroads began to develop. 
All of these were to make eventually 
the Mohawk valley the great road and 
waterway it is today. 

Immigration to western New York 
led to the formation from Montgom- 
ery, Jan. 27, 1789, of Ontario county, 
which originally included all of the 
state west of a line running due north 
from the "82nd milestone" on the 
Pennsylvania boundary, through Sen- 
eca lake to Sodus Bay on Lake On- 
tario. This was the fiist great change 
in the borders of Tryon or Montgomery 
county (which had been of larger area 
than several present-day states) since 
its formation seventeen >ears before. 
Other divisions were to come rapidly. 
In 1791 the county of Montgomery 
was still further reduced by the for- 



mation of Tioga, Otsego and Herki- 
mer. The latter joined Montgomery 
county on the north as well as the 
west, the present east and west line, 
between Fulton and Hamilton, con- 
tinued westward, being part of their 
common boundary, and another part 
of it a line running north and south 
from Little Falls, and intersecting the 
former "at a place called Jersey- 
fields." Of the region thus taken from 
Montgomery county on the north, the 
present territory of Hamilton was re- 
stored in 1797, only to be set apart 
under its present name, Feb. 12, 1816. 
April 7, 1817, the western boundary of 
Montgomery was moved eastward 
from the meridian of Little Falls to 
East Canada creek, and a line run- 
ning south from its mouth, where it 
still remains. This divided the terri- 
tory of the old Canajoharie and Pala- 
tine districts between two counties, 
after this region had formed part of 
Tryon or Montgomery county for a 
period of forty-five years, which was 
undoubtedly that of its greatest 
growth as well as covering the thril- 
ling Revolutionary period. It also, for 
the first time, made an unnatural and 
artificial demarcation of the Canajo- 
harie region, known as such north and 
south of the Mohawk since the dawn 
of history. The line between 
Montgomery and Schenectady has 
always been part of the boundary 
of the former, having originally 
separated it from Albany county. 
The formation of Otsego county, Feb. 
16, 1791, established the line which 
now separates it and Schoharie from 
Montgomery. The latter took its 
northern boundary and entire present 
outline on the formation of Fulton 
county in 1838, which will be consid- 
ered later. Thus the present Mont- 
gomery is the small remainder of a 
once large territory and bears that 
region's original name. It also con- 
tains the greater part of the territory 
immediately along the river, of three of 
the five districts which originally 
composed Tryon and Montgomery 
county. These three districts were 
Canajoharie, Palatine and Mohawk, 
and are all names of present-day 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



139 



townships of our county, which were 
portions of the original districts. It 
is in the lands along the Mohawk 
river, contained in these old districts, 
where the principal part of the popu- 
lation was gathered at the close of 
the Revolutionary war. 

The three towns of Montgomery 
which formed part of the Canajoharie 
district were set apart on the follow- 
ing dates: Minden 1798, Root 1823 
(formed partly from the old Mohawk 
and old Canajoharie districts). Cana- 
joharie, part of the original district of 
that name set apart in 1772. The town 
of Palatine is the remaining portion 
of the original Tryon county district 
of that name. The town of St. Johns- 
trict, was set apart on the formation 
of Pulton county in 1838. In 1793 
Caughnawaga was divided into Johns- 
town, Mayfleld, Broadalbin and Am- 
sterdam, and Mohawk into Charles- 
ton and Florida, their dividing line 
being Schoharie creek. In 1797 Salis- 
bury, now in Herkimer county, was 
taken from Palatine and in 1798 part 
of Canajoharie went to form Minden. 



An eighteenth century writer gives 
us a good view of the valley during the 
decade after the Revolution in a "De- 
scription of the Country Between Al- 
bany and Niagara in 1792," from 
Volume II. of the "Documentary His- 
tory of New York." It follows ver- 
batim. 

"I am just returned from Niagara, 
about 560 miles west of Boston. I 
went first to Albany, from thence to 
Schenectady, about Sixteen miles; this 
has been a very considerable place of 
trade but is now falling to decay: It 
was supported by the Indian traders; 
but this business is so arrested by 
traders far in the country, that very 
little of it reached so far down: it 
stands upon the Mohawk river, about 
9 miles above the Falls, called Cohoes; 
but this I take to be the Indian name 
for Falls. Its chief business is to re- 
ceive the merchandise from Albany 
and put it into batteaux to go up the 
river and forward to Albany Such pro- 
duce of the back country as is sent to 
market. After leaving Schenectada, I 



travelled over a most beautiful coun- 
try of eighty miles to Fort Schuyler, 
where I forded the Mohawk. This ex- 
tent was the scene of British and Sav- 
age cruelty during the late war, and 
they did not cease, while anything re- 
mained to destroy. What a contrast 
now! — every house and barn rebuilt, 
the pastures crowded with Cattle, 
Sheep, etc., and the lap of Ceres full. 
Most of the land on each Side of the 
Mohawk river, is a rich flat highly cul- 
tivated with every species of grain, 
the land on each side rising in agree- 
able Slopes; this, added to the view of 
a fine river passing through the whole, 
gives the beholder the most pleasing 
sensations imaginable. I next passed 
through Whitestown. It would appear 
to you, my friend, on hearing the re- 
lation of events in the western coun- 
try, that the whole was fable; and if 
you were placed in Whitestown or 
Clinton, ten miles from Fort Schuyler, 
and see the progress of improvement, 
you would believe it enchanted 
ground. You would there view an ex- 
tensive well built town, surrounded by 
highly cultivated fields, which Spot in 
the year 1783 was the 'haunt of tribes' 
and the hiding place of wolves, now a 
flourishing happy Situation, contain- 
ing about Six thousand people — Clin- 
ton stands a little South of Whites- 
town and is a very large, thriving 
town." 

This writer also says that "after 
passing Clinton there are no inhabi- 
tants upon the road until you reach 
Oneida, an Indian town, the first of 
the Six Nations; it contains about 
Five hundred and fifty inhabitants; 
here I slept and found the natives 
very friendly." He also writes, "The 
Indians are settled on all the reserva- 
tions made by this State, and are to 
be met with at every settlement of 
whites, in quest of rum." 



On Dec. 2, 1784, a council was held 
at Fort Schuyler between the Six Na- 
tions and American representati\'es. 
Gov. Clinton, Gen. Lafayette and other 
distinguished men were present. 
Brant was displeased with the Iro- 
quois situation, their lands having 



140 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



been ceded to the United States by the 
treaty of peace. Red Jacket was for 
war with the new nation while Corn- 
planter was for peace. Under certain 
conditions, the Six Nations were al- 
lowed to retain a portion of their old 
lands, with the exception of the Mo- 
hawks who had permanently settled 
themselves in Canada. After the 
multitude of whites and Indians had 
enjoyed a great feast (due to the wise 
forethought of Gov. Clinton), a foot 
race took place, in which each of the 
Six Nations was represented by one 
competitor. Gov. Clinton hung up a 
buckskin bag, containing $250, on a 
flag staff at the starting point on the 
bank of the Mohawk. This was a 
race of over two miles and was won, 
amid great excitement by a mere lad 
of the Oneida tribe, named Paul, who 
ran the great champion of the Mo- 
hawks off his feet and distanced the 
rest of his competitors. Gov. Clinton 
presented little Paul the prize and 
heartily congratulated him. Thus 
ended the last council of the Six Na- 
tions in the Mohawk valley, exactly a 
century and a quarter after the first 
held at Caughnawaga between the Iro- 
quois and the Dutch in 1659. 



Following is a short sketch of the 
Revolutionary patriot for whom this 
county was named: Richard Mont- 
gomery was born in the north of Ire- 
land in 1737. He entered the British 
army at the age of 20 and was with 
Wolfe at the storming of Quebec. Al- 
though he returned, after the French 
war, he had formed a liking for Am- 
erica and, in 1772, came back and made 
his home at Rhinebeck on the Hud- 
son, where he married a daughter of 
Robert B. Livingston. He sided with 
the patriots at the outbreak of the 
Revolution and in 1775 was second in 
command to Schuyler in the expedition 
against Canada. The illness of Schuy- 
ler caused the chief command to de- 
•volve upon Montgomery and in the 
capture of St. John's, Chambley and 
Montreal and his attack en Quebec, he 
exhibited great judgment and military 
skill. He was commissioned a major 
general before he reached Quebec. In 



that campaign he had every difficulty 
to contend with — undisciplined and 
mutinous troops, scarcity of provisions 
and ammunition, want of heavy artil- 
lery, lack of clothing, the rigor of 
winter and desertions of whole com- 
panies. Yet he pressed onward and in 
all probability, had his life been 
spared, would have entered Quebec in 
triumph. In the heroic attack of the 
Americans on this stronghold, Dec. 31, 
1775 (during a heavy snowstorm), 
Montgomery was killed and his force 
defeated. Congress voted Montgomery 
a monument, by an act passed Jan. 25, 
1776, and it was erected on the Broad- 
way side of St. Paul's church in New 
York. It bears the following inscrip- 
tion: "This monument is erected by 
order of Congress, 25th of January, 
1776, to transmit to posterity a grate- 
ful remembrance of the patriot con- 
duct, enterprise and perseverence of 
Major-General Richard Montgomery, 
who, after a series of successes amid 
the most discouraging difficulties, fell 
in the attack on Quebec, 31st Decem- 
ber, 1775, aged 37 years." 

In 1818 his remains were brought 
from Quebec and buried under this 
memorial. 

General Montgomery left no chil- 
dren, but his widow survived him more 
than half a century. A day or two 
before he left his home at Rhinebeck 
for the Canadian campaign, the gen- 
eral was walking on the lawn in the 
rear of his brother-in-law's mansion 
with its owner. As they came near 
the house, Montgomery stuck a willow 
twig in the ground and said, "Peter 
let that grow to remember me by." 
ILiOssing says it did grow and that 
when he visited ^he spot (in 1848) it 
was a willow with a trunk at least 
ten feet in circumference. 



The following is a summary of the 
principal Mohawk valley events of the 
period covered in this chapter (from 
1784 to 1838), prepared with especial 
reference to the Canajoharie and Pal- 
atine districts and the five western 
towns of Montgomery county: 

1784, last council of the Iroquois in 
the valley (with Gov. Clinton at Fort 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



141 



Stanwix); 1789, first cutting up of 
Montgomery to form Ontario county 
in 1789; 1790, legislative appropriation 
of £100 to erect a bridge at East 
Creek, opening up a period of bridge 
building in the valley; 1792, incorpor- 
ation of Inland Lock and Navigation 
Co. to improve the Mohawk; 1794, 
Johnstown academy formed; 1795, 
Union college, Schenectady, incorpor- 
ated, formerly Union academy, 1785; 
1798, Schenectady incorporated as a 
city; 1800, charter granted for con- 
struction of Mohawk turnpike from 
Schenectady to Utica; 1808, first sur- 
vey for Erie canal; May and Septem- 
ber, 1812, Mohawk valley regiments 
garrison Sacketts Harbor and take 
part in repulse of British there in 
1813; July 4, 1817, beginning of Erie 
canal work at Rome, N. Y. ; 1819, busi- 
ness part of Schenectady burned; 
1819, first canal boat launched at 
Rome to run between Rome and Utica; 
1821, navigation on the Erie between 
Rome and Little Falls, canal boats 
using the river from there to Schen- 
ectady; 1823, canal open to Spraker's 
Basin on the east end; Oct. 26, 1825, 
start of Clinton's triumphal tour on 
the completed Erie canal from Buffalo 
to Albany and from thence, by the 
Hudson, to New York; 1827, slavery 
finally abolished in New York state; 
1831, building of the Albany and Sche- 
nectady railroad; 1836, completion of 
the Utica and Schenectady railroad; 
1836, removal of the Montgomery 
county court house from Johnstown to 
Fonda (Caughnawaga) ; 1838, separa- 
tion of Fulton from Montgomery 
county. 



The chief national events of the for- 
mative period between 1784 and about 
1840, which has been treated some- 
what locally in the foregoing chapter 
are as follows: 

1787, September, Constitution of 
the United States framed by state del- 
egates at Philadelphia; 1788, July 26, 
New York state ratifies Constitution, 
being the ninth state so to do and 
putting it into effect; 1789, April 6, 
Washington inaugurated first presi- 



dent in New York city (then national 
capital), John Adams, vice president; 
1790, Philadelphia becomes national 
capitol until 1800; 1792, Washington 
re-elected president, John Adams, vice 
president; 1795, invention of the cot- 
ton gin by Eli Whitney of Savannah, 
Ga. ; 1796, John Adams elected second 
president, Thomas Jefferson, vice 
president; 1799, Dec. 14, Washington's 
death; 1800, Washington city becomes 
national capital; Thomas Jefferson 
elected third president, Aaron Burr, 
vice president; 1803, cession of French 
Louisiana territory (1,171,931 square 
miles) to United States for $15,000,000; 
1804, Thomas Jefferson re-elected 
president, George Clinton (former gov- 
ernor of New York) vice president; 
1807, Clermont, first steamer, runs 
from New York to Albany; 1808, James 
Madison elected fourth president, 
George Clinton re-elected vice presi- 
dent; 1812, James Madison re-elected 
president, Elbridge Gerry, vice presi- 
dent; 1812, June 18, second war (of 
1812) declared by congress against 
England; 1813, British repulsed from 
in front of Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. ; 
1813, Harrison defeats British force 
and Indian force under Tecumseh; 
1813, Sept. 10, Perry's American fleet 
captures British squadron on Lake 
Erie; 1814, July 25, battle of Lundy's 
Lane in Canada on the Niagara fron- 
tier; 1814, August, British army burns 
the Capitol and White House at Wash- 
ington; 1814, September, McDonough's 
American fleet destroys British fleet 
on Lake Champlain at Plattsburgh, 
N. Y., and American force checks 
British army there preventing inva- 
sion of New York; 1814, Dec. 24, peace 
of Ghent signed; 1815, Jan. 8, defeat 
of British by Jackson's army before 
New Orleans, La.; 1816, first tariff, 
with protection as its aim, enacted; 
1819, first ocean steamer, "Savannah," 
crosses Atlantic from Savannah to 
Liverpool, England, in twenty-two 
days; 1820, first struggle between slave 
and free states over the Missouri 
Compromise act; 1823, "Monroe doc- 
trine" first propounded by President 
Monroe in his annual message to con- 
gress; 1824, John Quincy Adams elect- 



142 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



ed sixth president, John C. Calhoun, 
vice president; 1827, first U. S. railway 
from Quincy, Mass., quarries to tide- 
water (built to transport granite used 
in construction of Bunker Hill monu- 
ment); 1828, Andrew Jackson elected 
seventh president, John C. Calhoun 
re-elected vice president; 1831, Cyrus 
McCormick operates first successful 
mowing machine at Steele's Tavern, 
Va. ; 1832, South Carolina passes Act 
of Nullification of national (high) pro- 
tective tariff of 1832; 1832, Andrew 
Jackson re-elected president, Martin 
Van Buren elected vice president; 
1832, first American sewing machine 
made by Walter Hunt of New York 
city; 1830-5, first threshing machine 
made at Fly Creek, N. Y., not perfect- 
ed there until 1840; 1836, Martin Van 
Buren elected eighth president, Rich- 
ard M. Johnson, vice president; 1836, 
first model of telegraph instrument 
made by Samuel F. B. Morse of New 
York city; 1837-1842, years of finan- 
cial depression; 1839, first photo- 
graphs from life made by J. W. Draper 
of New York city; 1840, invention of 
baseball by Abner (afterward General) 
Doubleday, a schoolboy at Coopers- 
town, N. Y. 



CHAPTER II. 

1784-1838— People and Life in the 
Mohawk Valley — Dress — The Revo- 
lutionary Houses — The Mohawk 
Dutch — English Becomes the Popu- 
lar Tongue — Rev. Taylor's Journey 
in 1802 — Valley Sports — Doubleday's 
Invention of Baseball — Last of the 
Mohawks in the Valley — The Iroquois 
Population in 1890 and the Mohawks 
in Canada. 

The history of the Mohawk valley 
from 1784 to 1838 is one of great de- 
velopment and progress. Immigration 
poured into and through the valley, 
and consequently steps were taken for 
the bettering of transportation facili- 
ties, in the improvement of Mohawk 
river navigation and of the highways 
and in the building of bridges. The 
clearing of the land made the forest 
recede far back from the river except 
in scattered woods, and, toward the 



end of this important period, the val- 
ley began to assume its present day 
aspect. Settlements were made far- 
ther and farther away from the Mo- 
hawk and rough highways to them 
were opened up. Logging was an im- 
portant industry. Towns began to 
spring up along the course of the river 
or to develop from the hamlets and 
little villages already there located. 
Manufacturing began and factories 
were established. Schools and 

churches were built everywhere. 
Newspapers were started and the 
whole complicated fabric of modern 
civilization was woven from the crude 
materials of a frontier civilization. 
Human life in the valley changed 
from its early strong simplicity to that 
of today, with its advantages and dis- 
advantages. Albany was the metrop- 
olis for Central New York, while 
Schenectady was the most important 
town in the valley until the close of 
this period when Utica outstripped it. 
The cities and villages of the present 
were, almost without exception, in ex- 
istence at the end of this time. 
Johnstown continued the county seat 
during this half century. Toward the 
close of this chapter of the valley his- 
tory came the epochal events of the 
construction of the Erie canal and the 
railroad, the latter of which may be 
said to end this historical period and 
usher in that of today. 

The steam engine had been perfect- 
ed in England early in the eighteenth 
century but it was not in general use 
in the Mohawk valley until the nine- 
teenth century. Water power was 
generally utilized for manufacturing 
purposes and this is the reason of the 
early growth of factory towns like 
Little Falls and Amsterdam, which 
used the power of the Mohawk and 
the Chuctanunda. Almost every 
stream, with sufl^cient fall and volume 
of water, had its power utilized. The 
principal water courses in western 
Montgomery county, used for milling 
and manufacturing purposes were 
Zimmerman's creek in St. Johnsville, 
Caroga and Knayderack (Schenck's 
Hollow) in Palatine, Yatesville (Ran- 
dall) and Plat Creek (Sprakers) in 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



143 



Root, Canajoharie in Canajoharie and 
the Otsquago in Minden. 

This period also marlced the passing 
of slavery in the Mohawk valley, it 
being finally abolished in the state of 
New York in 1827. This would have 
ordinarily occasioned disturbance in 
valley labor conditions as some far- 
mers had had a score of black slaves. 
The emancipation had probably 
been discounted and many slaves had 
been previously voluntarily freed by 
their masters. It is remarkable, con- 
sidering the evidently large number of 
slaves here a century ago, that the 
colored population of the valley is no 
larger today than it is. 

The time was also one in which the 
apprentice system flourished and or- 
phan children, and others, were fre- 
quently bound out as apprentices until 
they attained their majority, being 
virtually under the control of their 
guardians (except in cases where the 
legal ties were dissolved by law) un- 
til the minors attained their majority. 

In a general way this was a period 
of great evolution, in which was fin- 
ally produced the valley as we know 
it today. The life of the people of the 
Mohawk country is here considered, 
with reference to their dress (a mat- 
ter of undoubted importance historic- 
ally) their home and daily liie, their 
character and changing language and 
their pastimes and sports. When his- 
tory is truly written we shall all see 
the people's life of the past days pic- 
tured as well as the movements of the 
chief actors in the great and changing 
drama. 

The river traffic, highway and canal 
building, and other items of the life of 
this period, are dealt with in later 
chapters. These include churches, 
militia, war of 1812, bridges, railroad 
building and other valley features of 
the years from 1784 to 1838. 



The period from 1784 to about 1800, 
which is partly considered in this 
chapter, was one of great transition in 
the dress of the people. Its most dis- 
tinguishing mark in that respect was 
the adoption, for general use of trous- 



ers or pantaloons, which supplanted 
the "small clothes" dress of men about 
the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Mrp. John Adams, wife of the 
later president who was then minister 
to England, commented, in 1784, in 
one of her interesting letters, on the 
fact that dress and fashion seemed 
less regarded in London than in the 
American cities. True, to the major- 
ity of Tryon county people, fashionable 
dress was of little concern as this was 
a frontier and farming country, but 
rich apparel was no stranger to them, 
having been seen at civil and military 
functions in Johnstown and other val- 
ley points and at Schenectady and Al- 
bany. The advent of Washington's 
staff in his tour of the valley and stops 
at Fort Plain and Fort Herkimer in 1783 
must have been a brilliant spectacle, 
which undoubtedly brought out all the 
good clothes in Tryon county. Gen. 
Washington was most punctilious and 
careful in matters of dress, his atti- 
tude, in his own words, being that "or- 
derly and handsome dress was impera- 
tive for men in office and authority, 
that they and the nation should stand 
well in the eyes of other peoples, that 
they should impress the simpler of 
their own folk." 

Robert W. Chambers, the well- 
known novelist, is a resident of Ful- 
ton county, living at Broadalbin in 
what was the Mohawk district of 
Tryon. His novel "Cardigan" deals, in 
its early pages, with life at Johnson 
Hall. It suggests that, at the military 
and civic functions at the Tryon 
county seat, the dignitaries, officials, 
officers and their ladies there assem- 
bled must have rivalled the rainbow in 
the kaleidoscopic brilliancy of their 
rich attire. In 1780 when John Han- 
cock was inaugurated governor of 
Massachusetts he wore a scarlet velvet 
suit which is still preserved in the 
Boston State House. His dress "on 
an important occasion when he de- 
sired to make an impression and yet 
not to appear over-carefully dressed," 
was thus described by a contempo- 
rary: "He wore a red velvet cap with- 
in which was one of fine linen, the last 
turned up two or three inches over the 



144 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



lower edge of the velvet. He also wore 
a blue damask gown, lined with vel- 
vet, a white stock, a white satin em- 
broidered waistcoat, black satin small- 
clothes, white silk stockings and red 
morocco slippers." Many of the por- 
traits and descriptions in Mrs. Earle's 
"Two Centuries of Costume in Amer- 
ica" bring vividly before us the life of 
the time and its American people. 
Tasteful and beautiful are many of the 
gowns of the tine ladies of the time, 
some of whom are radiantly lovely 
themselves. The men pictured therein 
show frequently strong well-modeled 
features of an American type which 
today is found only occasionally. 
Readers interested in this and the 
colonial period should study Mrs. Alice 
Morse Earle's "Home Life in Colonial 
Days," which gives a vivid insight 
into the life of both times. 

Cleanliness was a not uncommon 
virtue of the Americans of that day. 
Dr. Younglove was the Palatine phys- 
ician who was a surgeon with Herki- 
mer's regiment. As we have seen he 
was captured by the British at Oris- 
kany and taken to Canada. One of his 
chief complaints, during his early cap- 
tivity, was as to the lack of soap and 
other means of keeping clean. English 
tra.velers of the time commented on 
the general neatness and cleanliness of 
American women, which would sug- 
gest a not similar condition existing 
in Europe. These same foreigners of 
the time found grounds for criticism 
in the riot of extravagance of dress 
and living which pervaded the "up- 
per" classes of Society in the American 
cities. The Count de Rochembeau as- 
serted that the wives of American 
merchants and bankers were clad to 
the top of the French fashions and 
another French critic deplored it as a 
great misfortune that, in republics, 
women should sacrifice so much time 
to "trifles." Franklin warned his 
countrymen against this wave of reck- 
less expenditure and Washington, who 
in his younger years was most care- 
ful about his rich and correct dress, 
later wore, as an example, home-rear- 
ed and native made cloth. His wife 
was attired in domestic products, and 



we find her knitting and netting, 
weaving cloth at home, using up old 
materials. 

In the few growing villages along 
the Mohawk and among a compara- 
tively small number of well-to-do 
families in Tryon county this passion 
for rich attire probably existed, but 
the Mohawk valley Dutchman and his 
household needed none of Franklin's 
warnings against extravagance. 

While a few families of means and 
luxurious tastes affected the rich fash- 
ions of the day, the mass of the val- 
ley people dressed simply, as farmer 
folk generally do the world over. The 
short working skirt for women prob- 
ably persisted and the change from 
breeches to trousers but little affected 
the Mohawk farmer, for the buckskin 
leggings of the frontier were nothing 
but a form of trousers and nether gar- 
ments reaching below the knee had 
always been worn by workingmen and 
farm laborers, and by gentlemen for 
rough and ready wear. For farm la- 
borers, these were frequently of coarse 
tow and were called "tongs," "skilts," 
overalls, pantaloons or trousers. One 
writer, speaking of farm workers and 
their "pants" of a period prior to the 
Revolution, says: "They wore checked 
shirts and a sort of brown trousers 
known as skilts. These were short, 
reaching just below the knee and very 
large, being a full half yard broad at 
the bottom; and, without braces or 
gallows, were kept up by the hips, 
sailor fashion." Mrs. Earle says: "It 
is plain that these skilts or tongs were 
the universal wear of farmers in hot 
weather. Tight breeches were ill 
adapted for farm work." 

Trousers, or pantaloons, were evi- 
dently also the country dress or rough 
and ready wear of eighteenth century 
gentlemen. Young Major Andre was re- 
puted one of the dandies of the British 
army in America but, at the time of 
his capture (perhaps in the disguise of 
a patriot country merchant) he wore "a 
round hat, crimson coat (such as was 
worn by English and American gen- 
tlemen) with pantaloons and vest of 
buff nankeen," and riding boots. Pres- 
ident John Adams also makes mention 



THE STORY OF OLD FOET PLAIN 



145 



of his wearing "trousers" about his 
farm. It is also probable •that trous- 
ers or pantaloons were worn by sol- 
diers during the Revolution, at least 
by the Continental militiamen. Dur- 
ing the pursuit of Ross and Butler up 
West Canada creek in October, 1781 
(as stated in a previous chapter), it is 
said the American soldiers took off 
their "pantaloons" to ford the icy 
creeks. This is on the authority of one 
of their number. The word "panta- 
loons," however, as used here may 
refer to either breeches or trousers. 

Women's costume in 1784 varied 
from the plain, simple, somewhat full 
skirted dress of the housewife .to the 
thousand frivolities of the fashionablle 
society of the American cities. Vel- 
vets, silks, and laces in every variety 
of brilliant color were used by both 
men and women. About 1800 came the 
change to the simpler dress for men 
of today, although for full dress oc- 
casions knee breeches continued to be 
worn by some men until about 1830, 
and a few old gentlemen clung to this 
fashion of their youth even after that 
period. 

Visitors to New York city, who are 
interested in the life of the people at 
the period covered by this chapter, will 
llnd the Governor's room in the City 
Hall a most interesting place. Here 
are portraits of many state notables 
from the early days of the colony until 
the middle of the nineteenth century, 
affording a vivid insight into the life 
and changes of those times. Three of 
Fort Plain's distinguished visitors are 
present — Washington, Governor Clin- 
tcn and President Van Buren. Horatio 
Seymour of Utica and Joseph C. Yates 
of Schenectady, Mohawk valley gov- 
ernors, are also here, as is Bouck, the 
Schoharie governor. Washington and 
Clinton are depicted in buff and blue 
continental regimentals, perhaps of 
the very style they wore during their 
Mohawk valley trip and Fort Plain 
visit of 1783. Most interesting is the 
study of the changing costume of these 
dignitaries. Colonial and Revolution- 
ary military dress was frequently a 
resplendent affair and so continued to 
be until after the war of 1812. Mor- 



gan Lewis, who was governor of the 
state 1804-7, is shown here, in a por- 
trait of 1808, in a uniform of yellow 
and black with a maroon sash, Wel- 
lington boots, highla^ decorated long 
sabre, and white gloves. He has a 
military coat of black velvet, edged 
with gold braid and lined with crimson 
satin. 

Governor Joseph C. Yates is repre- 
sented in a superb fuU-length portrait 
painted by the New York artist, John 
Vanderlyn, in 1827. He is depicted in 
black full dress, with knee breeches, 
black stockings and pumps. Governor 
Yates was a member of the well- 
known Yates family of Schenectady 
and Yates county is named for him. He 
was born in 1768 and died in 1837, and 
was a founder of Union college, first 
mayor of Schenectady in 1798, and 
governor 1823-5. 

Governor Dewitt Clinton was also 
painted in 1827 in the same style cos- 
tume with the addition of a black 
cioak with a red lining. Both Yates 
and Clinton, although past middleage, 
make a brave showing in this attire 
and it seems incredible that men of 
taste and fashion should have dropped 
such a dignified and stately full dress 
for that which Martin Van Buren wears 
in a portrait dated 1830. Here we have 
the dress suit of the nineteenth cen- 
tury with a few differences of cut and 
the funny pantaloons which make mal- 
formations of Van Buren's legs com- 
pared with the underpinrting of Yates 
and Clinton. And so went out the 
knee breeches and entered the era of 
the stove-pipe hat. Students of such 
things say man's dress both reflects 
the spirit of the times and also in- 
fluences it. Truly it seems to have in- 
deed done so and particularly at the 
end of this post-Revolutionary period 
of fifty j-ears. While the costume of 
1913 may not be as resplendent as that 
of 1784, it has features of comfort 
lacking at the earlier time. In Am- 
erica the wearing of underclothes is 
now well-nigh universal and these 
garments were unknown, except in 
winter, in Revolutionary days. Un- 
derwear manufacture is a feature of 
Mohawk valley industry. 



146 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Valley homes and life after the war 
are vividly pictured in the following 
from "Beer's History (1878)." This was 
written of the town of Florida, but 
applies equally to the other Montgom- 
ery county towns as well: 

"With the opening of the nineteenth 
century we seem to come a long step 
toward the present. It seems a great 
milestone in history, dividing a fading 
past from the fresher present. The 
long, doubtful struggle with England 
had resulted in a dearly bought, dear- 
ly prized peace, with its beautiful vic- 
tories. Local tradition has not yet lost 
the memory of the suffering that fol- 
lowed the infamous raid of Butler and 
Brant through this neighborhood in 
1780; and still treasures tales of hair- 
breadth escapes of families that found 
darksome homes in the cellars of their 
burned dwellings, of the fearful hush- 
ing of children, lest their voices should 
betray the places of concealment, of 
the hiding of plate and valuables, tea 
kettles freighted with spoons being 
hid in such haste as to defy future un- 
earthing. * * But at last 'the land 
had rest.' The red man, once sover- 
eign lord, had disappeared; the power- 
ful Johnson family was exiled, its 
homes sequestered and in other hands. 
Sturdy toil and earnest labor won their 
due return and thrift and competency 
were everywhere attested by hospit- 
able homes and well stored barns. Al- 
bany was the main market for the 
products, wheat forming the most con- 
siderable item. School houses and 
churches now dotted the landscape, 
and busy grist and saw mills perched 
on many streams. The Dutch [and 
German] language was much spoken, 
but many Connecticut and New Eng- 
land settlers never acquired it, and 
theirs [eventually] became the com- 
mon tongue. 

"Not alone have the 'blazed' or 
marked trees and saplings, which in- 
dicated the lines of roads or farm 
boundaries, long since decayed, but 
'block house' and log cabin have also 
disappeared, and it may be doubted if 
five specimens of these early homes 
can now be found within the bounds of 
Florida. Yet still there live those who 



can remember the old-fashioned 
houses. Says Mr. David Cady: 

"We have seen the type and warm- 
ed ourselves at the great hospitable 
fireplace, with crane, pothooks and 
trammels, occupying nearly the side 
of the room; while outer doors were 
so opposed that a horse might draw in 
the huge log by one entrance, leaving 
by the other. Strange, too, to our 
childish ej'es, were the curious chim- 
nies of tree limbs encrusted with mor- 
tar. The wide fireplace was universal; 
the huge brick oven indispensable. 
Stoves were not, though an occasional 
Franklin was possessed. The turkey 
was oft cooked suspended before the 
crackling fire; the corn baked in the 
low coal-covered bake kettle, the po- 
tatoes roasted beneath the ashes, and 
apples upon a ledge of bricks; nuts 
and cider were in store in every house. 
As refinement progressed and wealth 
advanced, from the fireside wall ex- 
tended a square cornice, perhaps six 
feet deep by ten feet wide, from which 
depended a brave valance of gay 
printed chintz or snowy linen, per- 
chance decked with mazy net work 
and tassled fringe, wrought by the 
cunning hand of the mistress or her 
daughter. These too have we seen. 
Possibly the household thrift of the 
last [eighteenth] century was not 
greater than that of the present time, 
but its field of exertion was vastly 
different. The hum of the great and 
the buzz of the little spinning wheel 
were heard in every home. By the 
great wheels the fleecy rolls of wool, 
often hand carded, were turned into 
the firm yarns that by the motions of 
deft fingers grew into warm stockings 
and mittens, or by the stout and 
clumsy loom became gay coverlet of 
scarlet, or blue and, white, or the 
graver 'press cloth' for garb of women 
and children, or the butternut or 
brown or black homespun of men's 
wear. The little wheel mainly drew 
from twirling distaff the thread that 
should make the 'fine, twined linen,' 
the glory and pride of mistress or 
maid, who could show her handiwork 
in piles of sheets, tablecloths and gar- 
ments. Upon these, too, was often 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



147 



lavished garniture of curious needle- 
work, hemstitch, and herringbone and 
lacestitch. Plaid linseys and linen 
wear were, too, fields for taste to dis- 
port in, while the patient and careful 
toil must not go unchronicled that 
from the wrecks of old and worn out 
clothes produced wondrous resurrec- 
tion in the 'hit-or-miss' or striped rag 
carpet, an accessory of so much com- 
fort, so great endurance, and often so 
great beauty. 

"Horseback was the most common 
style of traveling. The well-sweep or 
bubbling spring supplied the clear, 
cold water. Such was the then, we 
know the now. In modes of life, in 
dress and equipage, in social and po- 
litical habits, in locomotion, in com- 
forts, in commerce, one needs not to 
draw the contrast; more wide or 
striking it scarce could be." 



Mr. Cady has most pleasingly de- 
scribed the old log cabin homes, but 
we must remember that much that he 
details of them was also true of the 
stone and brick houses which were 
built up along the Mohawk, almost 
from the first advent of the white set- 
tlers. The century or more following 
the initial settlements was marked by 
the erection of strong, well-made 
houses and barns, which might well be 
adapted for present day construction. 
When stone was easily obtainable, as 
in the Palatine and parts of the Cana- 
joharie districts, fine, solid, comfort- 
able farm dwellings were built which 
seem to reflect the simple, solid, hon- 
est character of the Mohawk valley 
men of German and Dutch ancestry 
of the time. While the "Mohawk 
Dutchman" has been criticised, justly 
or unjustly, for penury, lack of enter- 
prise and progressiveness and other 
failings, he seems to have possessed 
the sterling virtues of horse sense, jus- 
tice, honesty, toleration, self restraint 
and, greatest of all, pertinacity. All 
these qualities are so well exemplified 
in the greatest American of the time — 
Washington — of a different blood. 
These same traits seem to reflect 
themselves in the structures built by 
the men of the Mohawk from 1784 to 



1838. There are many examples lin- 
ing the river's course on both high- 
ways and in the villages. The Frey 
house (1800) in Palatine Bridge is an 
example of the stone construction, 
while the Groff house (typical of that 
fine old Schenectady Dutch style) and 
the public library (1835) on Willett 
street, Fort Plain, are examples re- 
spectively of brick and wood building 
of the period under consideration. The 
old Paris store or "Bleecker house," 
in Fort Plain, is another interesting 
specimen of early valley building. The 
reason the middle and upper Mohawk 
valley have so few pre-Revolutionary 
buildings is that these were destroyed 
in the raids from 1778 to 1782. 

These same human qualities enumer- 
ated have continued to make the "Mo- 
hawk Dutch" such an important part 
of the valley's population, probably 
the largest element even at this day. 

It has been authoritatively stated 
that the Teutonic is the largest single 
racial factor in our country. It has 
never been exploited like the Puritan 
strain has in history and literature 
but it is none the less important on 
that account. Wherever the Teutonic 
race settled it did its work well as did 
other peoples of America. Of its origi- 
nal locations, the Dutch settlements of 
New Jersey and the Hudson and Mo- 
hawk valleys and the German settle- 
ments of Pennsylvania and the Hud- 
son, Mohawk and Schoharie valleys are 
of prime historical importance. As 
has been previously mentioned, these 
two elements (the Dutch and the Ger- 
man) were much intermingled and al- 
ways have been. 

At the beginning of the Revolution, 
it may be roughly estimated, that, in 
the entire valley, one-half the popula- 
tion was of German blood, one-quar- 
ter of Holland descent (including pop- 
ulous Schenectady county) and one- 
quarter of other racial elements, or in 
other words, three-quarters "Mohawk 
Dutch." This supposition is borne out 
somewhat by the "Oriskany roster" 
and similar records of the time. After 
the Revolution, with growing immigra- 
tion, the Teutonic element somewhat 
decreased, but the majority of the 



148 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



families of a great part of the valley 
possess some strain of this sterling 
blood. And the spirit of toleration and 
restraint inherited from these early 
Teutonic settlers is a valued heritage 
of the valley people of today. Possibly 
the Holland Dutch element was greater 
than in the foregoing estimate. There 
is no means of accurately telling, but 
the guess may stand for Tryon county 
alone. 

There were then present other 
equally sterling racial elements, nota- 
bly Irish, Scotch, Welsh and English, 
but these were not of such numerical 
strength as the Teutonic in the for- 
mative period of the valley and did 
not consequently affect the course of 
life and events to the same extent as 
did the latter, so generally predomi- 
nant in the early years. Today the 
British element (inclusive of the four 
peoples mentioned) is present in much 
greater proportion than in colonial and 
Revolutionary times. However in the 
towns of Montgomery county, aside 
from the city of Amsterdam, the opin- 
ion is worth venturing that the old 
"Mohawk Dutch" stock still consti- 
tutes a majority of the population. 
This is particularly true of the country 
sections and of the five western towns. 
In the list of premium winner.s at the 
Fort Plain street fair of 1912, two- 
thirds of the names published were 
of this typical valley, original Teu- 
tonic stock. The foregoing racial dis- 
course will have served its purpose if 
it indicates that we must consider 
New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania history (and that of other great 
regions where non-British elements 
largely located) in an entirely differ- 
ent light from that of the Puritan set- 
tlements of New England or the cava- 
lier's Virginia and Maryland. These 
latter (especially New England) seem 
to have been historically exploited to 
the slighting of other equally import- 
ant colonial centers of life. This coun- 
try is not a second England, or even 
an enlarged New England, but a new 
nation, made up of many elements, 
although dominated by one great co- 
hesive national idea, and largely dif- 
fering in racial ancestry in different 



areas. Historically these race and na- 
tional elements must be duly consid- 
ered to give a clear understanding of 
certain periods, but we are today all 
Americans — and Americans alone — re- 
gardless of the original stock from 
which we sprang. 

The period under consideration 
marked the passing of German in the 
western and Dutch in the eastern val- 
ley as the predominant tongues. The 
change was gradual. Dominies, who, 
at the close of the war preached, in 
the churches, several sermons in Ger- 
man Or Dutch (or both) to one in 
English, after 1800 were discoursing 
more in the latter than in the former 
tongues. German and Dutch were 
still spoken in 1838 but then English 
had long been the popular language. 
The old "Mohawk Dutch" still lingers 
as a subsidiary speech to a limited 
extent. 

For the most part the men of this 
period (from 1784 to 1838) led lives of 
hard work in the open air, and were 
consequently sturdy. Factory life was 
a negligible quantity, even toward the 
end of this time, and the town popu- 
lation was small in comparison with 
the people who were on the farms. 
Agricultural conditions and work 
gradually improved and approached 
the more advanced methods of the 
present, although doubtless not spec- 
ialized as now. In most sections, the 
farming population, at the end of this 
period, was larger than it is at the 
present time (1913). The country 
was what might be called a nat- 
ural country and human life was 
consequently natural and not lived 
under such artificial conditions as now. 
The great health-giving and soil-pre- 
serving forest still occupied consider- 
able stretches of country and fur- 
nished hunting and fishing for the 
male population. There were farms, 
forests and watercourses and no huge 
cities, with their big factories and in- 
door life, to tend toward the deterior- 
ation of the valley's people. 

With none of the present-day ag- 
ricultural machinery, such as the 
reaper and thresher, the men of that 
day were compelled to do themselves 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



149 



the hard work of the farms and also of 
the towns. Consequently they had 
sturdy bodies, and so did the women 
and their children, as well — and no 
people can have a better asset. The 
women were probably generally good 
housewives, who gave their d.iughters 
thorough training in the work of the 
household, and who took the same 
pride in a well-kept house as their 
husbands did in a well-managed, pro- 
ductive farm. Aimles.s discontent 
seems to have been markedly absent 
and the women of th^ time were evi- 
dently lacking in sexless prudery and 
priggishness. The natural ardors of 
youth seem not to have been then 
considered evidences of depravity, and 
early marriages and large families 
were the rule. There was no need of 
sending the little child, of that day, to 
kindergarten for pretty nearly every 
farm and town house was a kinder- 
garten in itself. It is said that never, 
in any nation's history, has there been 
such a record of population Increase 
as in the American states from their 
settlement up to the time of the great 
invasion of foreign immigrants about 
1840, when this natural national 
growth began to slacken and approach 
the present (1913) stationary position 
among the purely American element of 
the population (let us say among 
families who settled here prior to 
1840). If this trend should unfortu- 
nately continue the Revolutionary 
American stock is bound to die out or 
become at most a negligible national 
quantity. 

It is not to be inferred from the 
foregoing that 1784 or 1838 is superior 
to 1913 as a period of human life. In 
comfort, sanitation, kindliness and 
toleration we are ahead of the earlier 
time. Both times have something that 
each lack by themselves. 

During the time of this chapter, the 
tavern continued, as before and during 
the Revolution, a center of social and 
political life. Here were held dances, 
banquets, meetings and elections. 
"Trainings" of the militia and horse 
races brought out the people as at 
present county fairs. An agricultural 
association was formed in Johnstown 



and county fairs were held there about 
the middle of this period. 

The work and government of the 
valley, after the conflict for independ- 
ence, were in the hands of the patriot 
Revolutionary warriors. They assum- 
ed the direction of county affairs, 
without change — the form of govern- 
ment of old Tryon being much like 
that of the Montgomery county which 
it became. Later the sons and grand- 
sons of Revolutionary sires took up 
their share of work and politics and at 
the close of this after-war period (in 
1838) there must have been but com- 
paratively few of the men of '76 left. 



Rev. John Taylor's journal of 1802, 
written during his journey up the Mo- 
hawk valley, gives us a sketch of the 
people and country hereabouts at that 
interesting time, also an insight into 
the crude farming methods then pre- 
vailing. Parts of his diary relating to 
this section are as follows: 

"July 23, 1802— Tripes (alias Tribes) 
Hill, in the town of Amsterdam, coun- 
ty of Montgomery. * * * This place 
appears to be a perfect Babel as to 
language. But very few of the peo- 
ple, I believe, would be able to pro- 
nounce Shibboleth. The articulation, 
even of New England people, is injur- 
ed by their being intermingled with 
the Dutch, Irish and Scotch. The 
character of the Dutch people, even on 
first acquaintance, appears to be that 
of kindness and justice. As to re- 
ligion, they know but little about it, 
and are extremely superstitious. They 
are influenced very much by dreams 
and apparitions. The most intelligent 
of them seem to be under the influ- 
ence of fear from that cause. The 
High Dutch have some sing'ular cus- 
toms with regard to their dead. When 
a person dies, nothihg will influence 
ye connections, nor any other person, 
unless essentially necessary, to touch 
the body. When the funeral is ap- 
pointed, none attend but such as are 
invited. When the corpse is placed in 
the street a tune is sung by a choir of 
persons appointed for the purpose — 
and continue singing until they arrive 
at the grave; and after the body is 



150 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



deposited, they have some remarks 
made, return to ye house and in gen- 
eral get drunk. 12 men are bearers — 
or carriers — and they have no relief. 
No will is opened or debt paid until 
six weeks from ye time of death. 

"27th — Left Amsterdam and traveled 
5 miles to Johnstown — a very pleasant 
village — containing one Dutch pres- 
byterian chh and an Episcopalian. The 
village is tolerably well built. It is a 
county town — lies about 4 miles from 
the River and contains about 600 in- 
habitants. In this town there is a jail, 
court house and academy. About 
%ths of a mile from the center of the 
town we find the buildings erected by 
Sir William Johnson." Mr. Taylor 
also continues as follows: 

"Johnstown, west of Amsterdam on 
the Mohawk — extent [the town] 11 by 
8 miles. It contains one Scotch Pres- 
byterian congregation, who have an 
elegant meeting house, Simon Hosack 
Pastor of the Chh, a Gent, of learning 
and piety, educated at Edinluirgh. 
This is a very respectable congrega- 
tion. The town contains an Episco- 
pal congregation, who have an elegant 
stone church with organs. John Ur- 
quhart, curate. Congregation not 
numerous. There is also in this town 
one reformed Dutch chh. Mr. Van 
Horn, an excellent character, pastor. 
A respectable congregation. Further 
there is one large Presbyterian congre- 
gation — vacant — the people [of this 
congregation] principally from New 
England. 

"Palatine, west of Johnstown and 
Mayfleld; extent 15 by 12 miles [then 
depleted in size from 1772]. A place 
called Stone Arabia is in this town and 
contains one Lutheran Chh and one 
Dutch reformed Chh. Mr. Lubauch is 
minister of the latter and Mr. Crotz of 
the former. Four miles west of Stone 
Arabia, in the same town of Palatine, 
is a reformed Lutheran Chh to whom 
Mr. Crotz preaches part of the time. 

"After leaving this town [Johns- 
town] I passed about ten miles in a 
heavy timbered country with but few 
inhabitants. The soil, however, ap- 
pears in general to be excellent. The 
country is a little more uneven than 



it is back in Amsterdam. After trav- 
eling ten miles In a tolerable road, I 
came to Stonearabe (or Robby as the 
Dutch pronounce it). This is a par- 
ish of Palatine and is composed prin- 
cipally of High Dutch or Germans. 
Passing on 4 miles, came upon the 
river in another parish of Palatine, a 
snug little village with a handsome 
stone Chh [Palatine Church]. Hav- 
ing traveled a number of miles back 
of the river, I find that there is a 
great similarity in the soil, but some 
difference in the Umber. From Johns- 
town to Stone Arabia, the timber is 
beech and maple, with some hemlocks. 
In Stone Arabia the timber is walnut 
and butternut. The fields of wheat are 
numerous and the crop in general is 
excellent. In everything but wheat 
the husbandry appears to be bad. The 
land for Indian corn, it is evident from 
appearance is not properly plowed — 
they plow very shallow. Neither is 
the corn tended — it is in general full 
of weeds and grass and looks miser- 
ably. Rie is large. Flax does not ap- 
pear to be good. Whether this is ow- 
ing to the season or the soil, I know 
not. Pease appear to flourish — so do 
oats; but the soil, I believe, is too hard 
and clayey for potatoes — they look 
very sickly. I perceive as yet, but one 
great defect in the morals of the peo- 
ple — they are too much addicted to 
drink. The back part of Montgomery 
[now Fulton] county consists of some 
pine plains; but in general the lumber 
is beach and maple. A good grass and 
wheat country." 



Like many after war times, the 
close of the Revolution ushered in an 
era of recklessness and license. 
Gambling, extravagance, horse-racing, 
drunkenness and dueling were forms 
of its evidence. The duel was a recog- 
nized and tolerated method for the 
settlement of private grievances at the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. 
The Roseboom-Kane affair at Cana- 
joharie is treated in a later chapter 
relative to that town. Another duel 
caused great public excitement in New 
York city and state in the first year 
of the nineteenth century. The prin- 



THE 8T0KY OP OLD FORT PLAIN 



151 



cipals were Philil) Hamilton, son of 
Alexander Hamilton, and George J. 
Eacker, who had come to New York 
from his home in the town of Palatine 
a few years before. The latter was 
the son of Judge Eacker of Palatine 
and a nephew of General Herkimer. 
Eacker studied law, was admitted to 
the bar and became associated in a 
law firm with Brockholst Livingston, 
after his arrival in the city. He was 
a friend and admirer of Aaron Burr 
and a Jeffersonian in politics. Party 
feeling ran very high and Backer be- 
came eml)roiled with the Federalists 
of which party Alexander Hamilton 
was a national and state leader. In 
1801 Eacker delivered the Fourth of 
July oration in New York city, and 
seems to have thereby incurred the 
enmity of the Hamiltons and their 
party. Nov. 20, 1801, Eacker and his 
fiancee (a Miss Livingston) occupied 
a box at the John St. theatre, and he 
was there insulted l)y Philip Hamilton 
(then in his twentieth year), son of 
Alexander Hamilton, and by young 
Hamilton's friend Price. The talk be- 
tween them, in Eacker presence, ran 
somewhat as follows: "How did you 
like Eacker's sour krout oration on 
the Fourth of July?" The answer 
placed it in a very low scale. "What 
will you give for a printed copy of it?" 
"About a sixpence" was the reply. 
"Don't you think the Mohawk Dutch- 
man is a greater man than Washing- 
ton?" "Yes, far greater," ate, etc. 
Eacker resented this abuse and a duel 
with Price followed at noon, Sunday, 
November 22, at Powle's Hook. Four 
shots were exchanged between the 
principals without result, when the 
seconds intervened. A second duel 
with young Hamilton took place the 
following day, Monday, November 23, 
at three in the afternoon at the same 
place, in which Eacker shot Hamilton 
through the body at the first fire and 
the unfortunate young man died the 
next day. It is a curious commentary 
upon the position dueling occupied, in 
the estimation of men of the time, that 
Alexander Hamilton held no griev- 
ance against the slayer of his son, 
and Joseph Herkimer of Little Falls, 



observed to a friend that he "never 
witnessed more especial compliments 
or respectful greetings pass between 
lawyers than did between Gen. Hamil- 
ton and Eacker after his son's death." 
Eacker died in 1803 of consumption 
and Alexander Hamilton was himself 
killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 
1804. George J. Eacker was a promi- 
nent militiaman and volunteer fire- 
man of New York city at the time of 
his early death. 



Among the valley sports, after as 
before the Revolution, the chief seem 
to have been horse racing, foot racing 
and ball. 

We have the following somewhat 
amusing anecdote concerning the 
meddling of the clergy with the sports 
of the people. At a race on the Sand 
Flats at Fonda, the German minister 
of Stone Arabia thought it his duty to 
protest against race track gamb- 
ling, which was the cause of much in- 
iquity, so he rode there in his chaise 
with that intent. Arriving at the 
grounds he had barely commenced his 
protest against the evils of the race 
course, when a wag, who knew the 
parson's horse had been in a former 
similar race, rode up saying: "Do- 
minie, you have a fine horse there" 
and, touching both horses smartly 
with his whip, shouted "Go!" and both 
animals and drivers started off toward 
the minister's home at a racing clip. 
Several voices were heard shouting, 
"Go it, dominie, we'll bet on your 
horse." Before the reverend gentle- 
man could pull up his nag both horses 
had sped a long way and the Stone 
Arabia clergyman, realizing the force 
of his remarks had been unavoidably 
broken, kept on to his home and was 
never again seen at a race course. 

Trivial as certain of these accounts 
and anecdotes may appear they give 
us an insight and understanding of 
the people's character and daily life in 
the early days of the valley, which no 
citation of mere events and figures, 
however correct, can picture. They 
bring up visions like looking on a 
camera obscura, filled with the moving 



152 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



figures and backed by the unfamiliar 
scenes of a day long passed. 

Here is appended a hand bill of 
races in Palatine forty years after the 
Revolutionary period. However the 
character of the pre-RevoIutionary 
races was, without doubt, similar and 
it will give us an idea of what was the 
major sport and recreation of our val- 
ley ancestors: 

"Second Day's Purse, $50 — 

"To be given to the jockey rider, 
running two mile heats, winning two 
heats out of three; free for any horse, 
mare or gelding in the United States. 

"The third day a new SADDLE and 
BRIDLE, to be given to the jockey 
rider running one mile heats, winning 
two heats out of three; free for any 
three-year-old colt in the United 
States. 

"Likewise on the last day, a BEA- 
VER HAT, worth $10, to be given to 
the jockey footman running round the 
course in the shortest time. To start 
at four o'clock, p. m., on the last day's 
running. 

"On the first Tuesday in November 
next, races will commence on the flats 
of George Waggoner in Palatine. The 
purses as alcove, except the hat. 

"October 4, 1S19. 

"A SPORTSMAN." 

The foot race did not take place as 
a Palatine contestant was sick, and a 
purse of $30 was made up for a quar- 
ter-mile foot race. William Moyer, a 
tailor, and John K. DieU represented 
the town of Canajoharie and one Wag- 
goner and an imknown man were the 
champions of Palatine. The tap of a 
drum started them, as was usual then, 
and DieU won the sprint by six feet. 
The time was 58 seconds, which was 
very fast considering the track and 
the fact that there were no spiked 
shoes in those days. 

In 1824 a footrace took place in the 
village of Canajoharie for a purse of 
$1,000, the runners being David 
Spraker of Palatine and Joseph White 
of Cherry Valley. The distance of ten 
rods was marked off on Montgomery 
street and the contestants were started 
by David P. Sacia. Spraker won the 
prize and the race by three feet. This 



race was a topic of general conversa- 
tion for a half century afterward. 

Games of ball had been popular 
sport with the soldiers of the Revo- 
lution. We read that the garrison was 
playing l)all when Fort Schuyler took 
fire. This was probably then as later 
the game of "town ball." There were 
four bases in that game, but, instead 
of touching the runner to put him out, 
the rule required that he must be hit 
with a thrown ball. There were no 
basemen. This game survives, in the 
rules of our national sport, in that a 
l>aserunner who is hit by a batted ball 
is out. 

The modern game of baseball was 
invented by a schoolboy of the old 
Canajoharie district, Abner Doubleday, 
who originated it at Green's school in 
Cooperstown, during the Harrison 
presidential campaign of 1840. This is 
so near to the time dealt with in this 
chapter that it is given place here, 
particularly as Cooperstown was for 
years so closely connected with Fort 
Plain, the latter village being its out- 
let to the Mohawk valley, by way of 
the Otsquago, all the towns along 
which route made Fort Plain their 
trade center, particularly before the 
days of the railroads. 

In 1840, a great crowd had gathered 
at Cooperstown for a picnic and po- 
litical meeting, during the excitement 
of this famous campaign. Of course 
the boys of the neighborhood of the 
school mentioned were present in large 
numbers. Young Doubleday (who 
later liecame a U. S. army general) hau 
been working for some time on a game, 
based on "town ball," for the boys to 
play at the picnic. American boys 
of that time were vastly interested in 
all games requiring agility, quick 
thinking and athletic prowess and 
Doubleday's game took hold like wild- 
fire. The New York Evening World, 
in June, 1908, had the following re- 
garding this truly historic event: 

"Young Doubleday was also fond of 
town ball, but he saw the opportunity 
to make the game more scientific and 
for several nights he worked on a new 
set of rules and a diagram of the field. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



153 



"When the boys assembled that af- 
ternoon Doubleday gathered them 
around and explained as well as he 
could, the points of the new game. He 
decided that there must be four bases 
ninety feet apart, and the boys imme- 
diately began to refer to the game as 
'baseball.' The name stuck. 

"The rules made by Gen. Doubleday 
specified that the ball should be made 
of rubber and yarn and covered with 
leather. It must weigh about five 
ounces and must not be more than 
nine inches in circumference. The 
weight of the ball and the size of the 
hand were taken into consideration in 
determining these measurements. The 
bat was to be of round wood, and to 
be used with both hands. In town ball 
the bat was frequently used with one 
hand. 

"The next thing for the inventor 
was to determine the distance between 
the bases. After several experiments 
it was found that a man would have 
to hustle to run 42 [walking] paces or 
about 90 feet before a ball of those 
dimensions could be returned after 
having been driven to the outfield. 
Thus it was that 90 feet was fixed as 
the distance between the bases. A 
proof of Doubleday's wonderful judg- 
ment is the fact that, to this cay, the 
ball is 'five ounces, 9 inch' and the dis- 
tance between the bases is 90 feet. 
The underlying principles of baseball 
have not been changed one iota since 
1840. 

"The batters immediately began to 
study means by which they could drive 
the ball so as to easily make the 90 
feet. But there were two sides to that 
proposition and the fielders learned to 
handle the ball faster so as t^ affect 
the batsmen. The American boy is 
naturally inventive and for 70 years 
he has worked, both at the bat and in 
the field, to overcome the problem 
which was created by Doubleday's 
measurements. That constant effort 
has made baseball the great national 
pastime of America." 

All American boys shou'd take pride 
in the fact that the leading athletic 
game of North America was invented 



and virtually perfected by a Coopers- 
town schoolboy. 

The Mohawk valley has produced a 
number of ballplayers of exceptional 
ability. A St. Johnsville man is 
today (1913) with the New York 
National League team as an out- 
fielder and a Palatine (Nelliston) na- 
tive is manager of the Brooklyn Na- 
tional League team, after a long and 
successful career as shortstop with 
three championship league teams — 
New York, Brooklyn and Chicago. 
This player, W. F. Dahlen. started his 
career on the famous old Institute (C. 
L. I.) school team of Fort Plain. 

General Abner Doubleday was born 
at Ballston Springs, Saratoga county, 
June 26, 1819; graduated at West 
Point in 1842. He became a captain 
of the U. S. army in 1855 and was one 
of the garrison of Fort Sumter in 1861. 
He was made a brigadier-general of 
volunteers Feb., 1862, and a major 
general in Nov., 1862. Doubleday was 
in the battles of Manassas, South 
Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsvllle 
and at Gettysburg commanded the 
First Corps in the first day's battle 
after the death of Gen. Reynolds. He 
was breveted a major-general of the 
U. S. army and became colonel of in- 
fantry in 1867; retired 1873; died 1893. 
Gen. Doubleday published "Reminis- 
cences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie" 
(1876), and "Chancellorsvllle and Get- 
tysburg" (1882). 



The historical time covered in this 
chapter witnessed the complete dis- 
appearance of the Mohawk Iroquois 
from his old valley hunting grounds. 
At the close of the Revolution a few 
friendly or neutral Mohawks and a 
small number of individuals of other 
tribes remained along the river. There 
was a violent but natural prejudice 
against all Indians, on the part of the 
white population, which caused many 
of these natives to move to Canada or 
other friendlj' neighborhoods. By 
1840, it is probable that the last of 
these remaining valley savages had 
died out. As has Iieen previously noted 
the majority of the Mohawks left the 
valley with the Johnson family, at the 



154 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



beginning of Revolutionary hostilities, 
and settled in Canada, on the Grand 
river. Here they were granted lands 
and many of them have become pros- 
perous farmers. The Mohawks and 
Oneidas have increased greatly in 
number and prospered while other 
Iroquois tribes have diminished. 

According to the U. S. census of 
1890 the total Iroquois population of 
North America was 45,000, a large 
proportion of the Indian inhabitants. 
This included, besides the Six Na- 
tions, the Cherokees who numbered 
28,000 and is the largest tribe of Iro- 
quois blood, numbering twice as many 
individuals as the New York state Iro- 
quois or the Six Nations. The Wyan- 
dots, also of the same American In- 
dian stock, numbered 689. In the cen- 
sus of 1890, the Mohawk population 
includes those of that tribe living at 
Caughnawaga and Lake of Two Moun- 
tain, Quebec, and at Grand River, On- 
tario, and the Mohawk, Oneida and 
Huron mixed-bloods living at St. 
Regis, and those living on other reser- 
vations. The great majority are, of 
course, resident in Canada. In 1890 
the numbers of the Six Nations were 
as follows: Mohawks, 6,656; Oneidas, 
3,129; Senecas, 3,055; Cayugas, 1,301; 
Onondagas, 890; Tuskaroras, 733. To- 
tal, 15,664. This is about what the 
New York state Iroquois population 
was at the time of the Dutch settle- 
ment. From a small tribe the Mo- 
hawks have risen to the greatest in 
numbers, while the Senecas, once the 
first, and numbering as many as the 
other five tribes combined, have 
shrunk so that they now are third in 
rank in population. The success of 
the Mohawks on their Canadian lands 
would suggest that the Indian, under 
proper conditions, can make a place 
for himself in civilized society. 



CHAPTER HI. 

1689-1825 — Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty and the Palatine and Canajoharie 
Districts Townships — Life, Trade, 
Schools, Development. 

This is the first of two chapters 
dealing with Western Montgomery 



county and treats of the period from 
settlement in 1689 to 1825, but princi- 
pally of the time from 1784 to 1825. 
The second chapter, in the third series, 
gives the record from 1825 to 1913. 

The succeeding descriptions are in- 
tended to portray the state and growth 
of trade, traffic and commerce in the 
five west end towns of Montgomery 
county from their settlement until 
about the building of the Erie canal. 
The history of these towns is divided 
into four periods: of settlement, 1689- 
1774; Revolution, 1774-1783; agricul- 
tural and highway and river traffic de- 
velopment, 1784-1825; development of 
commerce, manufacturing and towns, 
1825-1913. The beginnings of things 
are always interesting and will be 
found particularly so in these in- 
stances. Names and personalities are 
treated which, in later accounts, 
must be disregarded on account of the 
great growth of the population. While, 
prior to the advent of the Erie canal, 
we can deal with individuals, in our 
later accounts the people must be 
treated in classes or as a whole. The 
10,000 people in the Mohawk valley and 
that of its tributary Schoharie, at 
the time of the formation of Tryon 
county in 1772, have grown to between 
four hundred thousand and a half mil- 
lion of human beings. In the five west 
end towns of Montgomery where, in 
1772, there were probably two or three 
thousand white people there are to- 
day approximately eighteen tliousand. 

Dutchtown and Freysbush were the 
first Minden sections settled and here 
schools were first established by the 
German settlers. There was some in- 
struction given also at the Reformed 
Dutch church at Sand Hill. The cere- 
monies at this house of worship in 
honor of the memory of Washington 
in Dec, 1799, is treated in a separate 
chapter which describes this church 
as one of the five Revolutionary 
churches of Western Montgomery 
county. The church and the tavern 
were the centers of social life in the 
eighteenth century in the valley. The 
militia trainings, the part the men of 
the Mohawk played in the war of 1812, 
the improvement of and traffic on the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



155 



Mohawk, highway development and 
the inn life along the Mohawk turn- 
pike, the construction of the canal 
and the railroad, the change of busi- 
ness center from Sand Hill to Pros- 
pect Hill, and other features of the 
life of this period, in Minden, Western 
Montgomery county and the Mohawk 
valley, are all given space in succeed- 
ing chapters. 

The greater part of the following is 
from Beer's History of Montgomery 
and Fulton counties: 

Small stores were established in the 
different Mohawk valley German set- 
tlements soon after they were planted. 
They contained small stocks of such 
goods as their white neighbors must, 
of necessity, have and certain kinds 
which their trafflc with the Indians 
called for; the latter consisting of 
firearms, knives, hatchets, ammuni- 
tion, trinkets, brass and copper ket- 
tles, scarlet cloth, rum and tobacco. 
These, with a few other articles, were 
bartered for furs to great advantage, 
at least, of the early white storekeep- 
ers, who were German or Dutch for 
the most part. 

The first store, in the town of Min- 
den, was established near the Sand 
Hill church by William Seeber, a Ger- 
man, at the place where for years (the 
late) Adam Lipe resided. His store 
was opened about 1750 and he traded 
here during the French war. As we 
have seen he died here of a wound 
received at Oriskany, over four months 
after that battle in which his two 
sons were also killed. 

John Abeel settled at Fort Plain 
about the middle of the eighteenth 
century, shortly after Seeber opened 
his store. He probably traded here 
also, to what extent is not knovi^n. As 
the father of Cornplanter, the Seneca 
chief, his story is told in a former 
chapter. 

A few of the tr9.ding places were 
general stores on a considerable scale 
and such a one must have been that 
of Isaac Paris jr., during the short 
time he traded at Fort Plain. The 
size of his store shows that he did a 
large business for the eighteenth cen- 
tury. 



Isaac Paris jr. seems to have follow- 
ed Seeber, having erected his store in 
1786, this being what is now known 
as the Bleecker house. Here he re- 
sided and traded several years, dying 
at an early age. Conrad Gansevoort 
came from Schenectady in 1790. He 
married Elizabeth, a daughter of John 
Roseboom, who also moved up from 
Schenectady and settled below Cana- 
joharie. Gansevoort built a dwelling 
with a store in it on a knoll at the 
foot of Sand Hill, on the farm where 
the late Seeber Lipe lived. This house 
is still standing, just this side of the 
Little Woods creek, on the extreme 
western edge of Fort Plain. It has 
been converted into a double dwelling. 
Shortly before 1810 Gansevoort retired 
from business and returned to Sche- 
nectady. He had been a successful 
merchant and was a man much re- 
spected in the township. The elevated 
road across the flats from the river 
ferry met the south shore highway 
just in front of Gansevoort's store 
and about the year 1800 and shortly 
before old Fort Plain or Sand Hill 
must have been a lively little hamlet. 

Three Oothout brothers, Garret, 
Jonas and Volkert, came from Sche- 
nectady about the advent of Conrad 
Gansevoort. They erected a large 
two story building, some fifty feet 
long, for a store with a dwelling in its 
easterly end. It stood on the river 
road, just west of the Sand Hill set- 
tlement, about one and a quarter miles 
west of the present center of Fort 
Plain. "Of the Oothout firm, it is re- 
membered that Garret, the oldest and 
who was a bachelor, was blind, but re- 
markably shrewd with a sense of feeling 
so keen that he could readily distin- 
guish silver coins, so that no one could 
pass a ten-cent piece on him for a 
shilling or a plstareen for the quarter 
of a dollar." For a number of years, 
Gansevoort and the Oothouts had 
quite a large trade, the latter firm 
wholesaling to some extent. Both of 
these firms purchased considerable 
wheat, as no doubt their neighbor 
Paris did while in trade, which they 
sent to Albany, by way of Schenec- 
tady, on the river in their own boats. 



156 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Abram Oothout was a younger brother 
and with his wife, Gazena DeGraff, 
settled on a farm adjoining the store. 
In the dwelling, known later as the 
Pollock house, his daughter Margaret 
was born in 1811. She later became 
the second wife of Peter J. Wagner. 

Robert McFarlan appears to have 
been the next merchant to come to 
old Fort Plain, having removed here 
in 1798 from Paulet, Vt. He was "a 
remarkably smart business man," and 
established his store on the opposite 
side of the road from the church. He 
married a daughter of Major Hause, of 
the neighborhood, "which proved a 
stroke of good policy, since he not 
only got a good wife but also the 
trade of her host of relatives and 
friends. He also ran an ashery near 
Hallsville in connection with his Sand 
Hill store. McFarlan at once became 
active in the affairs of the section, fill- 
ing the positions of justice of the 
peace and colonel of the militia." He 
is said to "have been not only a fine 
looking but a very efficient officer. One 
of the few remaining gravestones in 
the old Sand Hill cemetery is one 
bearing the inscription 'In memory of 
Robert McFarlan, Esq., who departed 
this life July 14, 1813, in the 49th year 
of his age.' " 

In 1806 a bridge was erected across 
the Mohawk river at the "island," 
near old Fort Plain, superseding the 
ferry which was located just below. 
This was an important event for this 
locality and was duly celebrated. This 
structure, together with the one 
built at Canajoharie in 1803, were at 
that time the only bridges over the 
river between Schenectady and Little 
Falls. The matter of bridges is treated 
later. 

About the year 1808, when Conrad 
Gansevoort returned to Schenectady, 
Henry N. Bleecker, a young man from 
Albany, who had long been his clerk, 
succeeded him in his business. At the 
end of a few years he returned and 
went to Canajoharie and there mar- 
ried Betsej', a daughter of Philip R. 
Frey and granddaughter of Col. Hen- 
drick Frey. She "is said to have been 
the prettiest of three fine looking sis- 



ters." Here Bleecker settled and died 
at an early age on the Frey farm. 
David Lipe and Rufus Firman suc- 
ceeded Bleecker and are supposed to 
have been the last merchants to oc- 
cupy the Gansevoort store. 

A year or two after the death of Mc- 
Farlan, John A. Lipe and Abraham 
Dievendorff began to trade in the Mc- 
Farlan building. They soon separated 
and Henry Dievendorff joined his 
brother Abraham in trade at this store. 
Lipe fitted up a store on the same side 
of the street but closer to the church, 
which his son, Conrad Lipe, occupied 
until the year 1819, when he died, his 
father continuing the business for 
some time after. A postoffice was es- 
tablished at Sand Hill in 1816, with 
Conrad Lipe as postmaster, and as, at 
that time, there were three or four 
merchants located there, the only 
church in Canajoharie or Minden near 
the river, and a bridge across the Mo- 
hawk, the settlement must have been 
a place of considerable life for the 
period. 

About 1820, the Dievendorff brothers 
erected a store near the Erie canal 
which was then being constructed, 
hoping to be benefited by the canal 
trade. This building stood near the 
premises, formerly occupied by Wil- 
liam Clark on Upper Canal street. It 
was a long, yellow two-story building, 
the upper floor being used for a public 
hall. Preaching was held in this room 
and it was also the scene of dances 
and other social occasions. One of 
these was the marriage of the Peter 
J. Wagner aforementioned to Mar- 
garet Oothout in 1823. In connection 
with their business, the Dievendorffs 
ran a distillery. They failed and were 
succeeded by David Dievendorff, a son 
of Henry, who had long been a clerk 
for his father and uncle. He also 
failed. About 1828, as the business 
part of the you^ig village was de- 
stined to be lower down, the Dieven- 
dorff block was removed to the site of 
the present brick stores occupied by 
H. E. Shinaman and Lipe & Pardee. 
John R. Dygert and John Roth suc- 
ceeded the Dievendorff Bros, in the 
Sand Hill section and after a little 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



157 



time Solomon H. Moyer bought out 
Roth. A few years later Dygert & 
Moyer removed to a store erected by 
Dygert at the canal bridge, where 
Wood, Clark & Co. were in business 
for so many years and which is now 
occupied by William Linney. Many 
of the Sand Hill or old Fort Plain 
buildings have been destroyed by Are 
or demolished within the last quarter 
century (prior to 1913). 

Before 1805 it is said there were 
few buildings on the site of the pres- 
ent village of Fort Plain. It must be 
remembered that several of the build- 
ings aforementioned, including the 
fort and blockhouse, were within the 
present limits of the village at its 
western end. Isaac Soule kept a tav- 
ern here as early as 1804. In 1805 Jo- 
seph Wagner settled ©n a farm, occu- 
pying a large part of the site of pres- 
ent Fort Plain, and in 1806 he put up 
a small public house which was kept 
as such until 1850. It then became a 
residence and is still standing and 
owned by Andrew Dunn. In 1807 Dr. 
Joshua Webster and Jonathan Stick- 
ney, settlers who came here from New 
England, built a tannery on the east 
side of the old Otsquago creek chan- 
nel. This was constructed from the 
material in the old Governor Clarke 
mansion which had long been aban- 
doned and had the reputation of being 
a "haunted house." John C. Lipe op- 
ened a store in Soule's tavern in 1808, 
there also being a tailor shop in the 
building. Dr. Webster was the first 
physician, having come here in 1797 
from Scarboro, Maine. Peter J. Wag- 
ner was the first lawyer and he also 
represented old Montgomery county in 
congress. Before and shortly after the 
completion of the Erie canal many busi- 
ness houses were established in Fort 
Plain and when the village was in- 
corporated in 1832 practically the en- 
tire business of old Fort Plain or Sand 
Hill had removed to the present center. 
The first hatter in the present village 
was William A. Haslet, who estab- 
lished a store in 1826. Harvey E. Wil- 
liams opened the first hardware store 
in 1827. S. N. S. Gant established the 
Fort Plain Watch Tower, the first 



newspaper, in 1828. This became, by 
various changes The Mohawk Valley 
Register. Numerous other professional 
and business men established them- 
selves in Fort Plain in the five years 
after the completion of the Erie canal 
in 1825. 

John Warner came into Freysbush 
as a successful Yankee schoolmaster, 
and, about 1810, he opened a store. In 
1825 he built the store (now occupied 
by the Co-operative store), which was 
the second store devoted to dry goods 
in Fort Plain. Henry P. Voorhees had 
built the first in 1824 on the bank of 
the creek. This building formed the 
back part of what was for a long 
period the Lipe and Mereness crock- 
ery establishments. In those days be- 
fore aqueducts were in use on the 
canal, the creek water was dammed 
back, and, on a bridge over the Ots- 
quago, the canal horses drew the 
boats across the creek. This set back 
the water up the channel of the stream 
and canal boats then unloaded mer- 
chandise and grain on the docks (re- 
mains of which may be seen) at the 
back of the Main street stores. 

Robert Hall moved from Washing- 
ton county about 1800 and followed the 
trade of a pack peddler through the 
Mohawk valley. He settled about 1810 
at the site of Hallsville, which bears 
his name. He, with two men named 
John White and Cooper, built a store 
and tavern. Later Hall bought out his 
partners and continued the business 
alone. He had an extensive business, 
at one time having four stores run- 
ning in the county, besides a brew- 
ery, an ashery and distillery, and he 
also owned a grist mill in Herkimer 
county. General trainings were fre- 
quently held at his place and elections 
were held at the tavern. Hall served 
in the war of 1812 as captain and was 
stationed at Sackett's Harbor during 
the war. During the early part of 1800 
bands of Mohawk Indians frequently 
camped at this place. Robert Hall was 
a member of the state legislature and 
was interested in the establishment of 
the Fort Plain National bank. 

Whipping posts and stocks were not 
only to be seen in nearly every town 



158 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



in New England at the beginning of 
the nineteenth century, but also in all 
the older settlements of New York. 
They were designed to punish petty 
thefts, for which from ten to fifty 
lashes were inflicted, according to the 
magnitude of the crime and its attend- 
ant circumstances. They were prob- 
alily in use at Amsterdam, Caughna- 
waga, Stone Arabia and Herkimer and 
they are known to have been located 
at Johnstown, Fort Hunter, Freysbush 
and old Fort Plain or Sand Hill. The 
Freysbush post stood on the site of 
the cheese factory. One of the last 
punishments of that kind in this sec- 
tion was meted out to Jacob Cramer 
at the Freysbush post. John Rice, a 
constable of the then town of Canajo- 
harie, gave the culprit thirty-nine 
lashes on his bare back for stealing a 
wash of clothes. This custom of pun- 
ishment has long been obsolete, but 
there seemed to have been times when 
immediate penalty for petty offenses, 
inflicted in this way, saved a bill of 
expense if it did not actually lessen 
crime. 

In 1810 the Seneca chief Cornplanter, 
son of John Abeel of Sand Hill, paid a 
visit to his relatives at Fort Plain and 
to the scenes of the murderous Indian 
raid in which he had been engaged 
with Brant some thirty years before. 
Simms gives the following account of 
this event: 

"The Hon. Peter J. Wagner, a grand- 
son on the mother's side of John 
Abeel, well remembers a visit of Corn- 
planter to his relatives at Fort Plain. 
He places the visit in the fall of about 
1810. The noted chieftain then came 
here, in his native dress of feather and 
plume, on his way to Albany, attended 
by several other Indian chiefs. The 
party was first entertained at the 
house of Joseph Wagner, the father 
of informant, whose wife was a half- 
sister of the distinguished chief, who 
received at her hands that kind and 
courteous attention which his reputa- 
tion justly entitled him to expect. The 
distinguished guests also found the 
fatted calf prepared for them at Nich- 
olas Dygert's; his wife being a sister 
of Mrs. Wagner [and a half-sister of 



the Seneca chief]. Indeed, they were 
made to feel equally at home at Jacob 
Abeel's, at the homestead — his father, 
John Abeel having then been dead 
more than a dozen years. His widow 
was living with her son and exerted 
herself to make her home one of com- 
fort and hospitality for the red men. 
These guests were here several days, 
and Cornplanter was so handsomely 
treated by his kinsfolk, that he must 
have carried home a grateful recollec- 
tion of his visit. He was then judged 
nearly six feet high and well propor- 
tioned. He appeared in attire and or- 
nament as the representative man of 
his nation, and well did he sustain the 
role of his national reputation. Many 
people in this vicinity then saw the 
celebrated Cornplanter, who never 
gave his white relatives cause to blush 
for any known act of his life, and his 
visit has ever been treasured as a 
bright spot in the memory of his 
friends." 



The following relates to life, trade 
and the general early development of 
the townships of Canajoharie: 

Johannes Roof had kept a tavern at 
Fort Stanwix and, when that post was 
threatened by St. Leger in 1777, he 
moved down the Mohawk to Canajo- 
harie where he also conducted a public 
house during the Revolution and for 
some years thereafter. When the army 
under Clinton rendezvoused here, pre- 
paratory to crossing to Otsego lake. 
Gen. James Clinton boarded with Roof. 
The accommodations of the tavern 
were rather meagre, but ale, spirits, 
sauerkraut, Dutch cheese, bread and 
maple sugar generally abounded. A 
more modern tavern was later erected 
in front of the stone inn. It was called 
the "Stage House" and had a coach and 
four horses painted on its front. It 
was kept in 1826 by Reuben Peake and 
later by Elisha Kane Roof. The stages 
ran to Cherry Valley and originally 
had two horses. In 1844, four-horse 
stages, carrying mail and passengers, 
began running to Cherry Valley and 
Cooperstown, leaving the Eldridge 
house daily. This line was kept up for 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



159 



about twenty years. Washington is 
said to have stopped at Roof's house in 
1783. It was of stone rubble work 
22x38 feet and a story and a half high, 
with gable end to the public square. 
This building was bought of Henry 
Schremling by John (Johannes) Roof. 
Martin Roof, a brother of Johannes, 
was a druggist at an early day in Can- 
ajoharie and one of its first postmas- 
ters, also an acting justice of the peace. 
It is said that the Roofs were so prom- 
inent here that at one time the early 
settlement was called Roof's village. 
They kept tavern here until after 1795. 
When Roof came here in 1777 it is said 
there were not more than half a dozen 
houses on the site of Canajoharie vil- 
lage. 

Henry Schremling conducted a grist 
mill near the site of Arkell & Smiths' 
dam, in the latter part of the eigh- 
teenth century. The first grist mill on 
Canajoharie creek was erected by Gose 
Van Alstine about 1760. It was a 
wooden building and stood on the east 
bank of the stream about 30 rods from 
the end of the gorge leading to the 
falls. From here, near the original 
"Canajoharie," or the big pothole in the 
creek's bed, the water is said to have 
been conveyed to it in a race course. 
About 1815 the mill burned down and 
Mrs. Isaac Flint, who, among the ig- 
norant, weak-minded and supersti- 
tious, was considered a witch, was ac- 
cused of setting it on fire. Learning 
that she was in danger of l)eing ar- 
rested, she hung herself. Nathaniel 
Conkling, an uncle of Senator Roscoe 
Conkling, was the coroner who called 
the inquest. Instead of the poor vic- 
tim of superstition it is probable that 
a relative of the mill owners was the 
culprit. The old stone miller's dwell- 
ing which adjoined the mill was after 
occupied as Lieber's cooper shop for 
the manufacture of flour barrels, and 
was also burned in 1828. 

In 1817, a short distance below this 
site, a stone mill was erected by Goert- 
ner and Lieber. At this place they also 
had a sawmill, distillery, fulling mill 
and carding machine. For some time 
a large business was done here, in- 



cluding much of the milling for the 
towns of Palatine, Root and Charles- 
ton as well as Canajoharie. In 1838 
these mills were burned and never re- 
built. Henry Lieber and his brother, 
John, on coming to America at the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century were 
sold into servitude to pay their pass- 
age from Germany — a custom long in 
vogue and of which many immigrant 
people without means availed them- 
selves. Henry Lieber, on becoming his 
own master, first learned the weaver's 
trade, and then became a pack peddler. 
He next had a small store in Freys- 
l)ush, then one in Newville and then 
became established in trade at Cana- 
joharie, just before the advent of the 
canal. 

The second grist mill on Canajoharie 
creek was built about 1770, by Col. 
Hendrick Frey, from whom Freysbush 
took its name and who was a noted 
Tory during the Revolution. This 
place was known as the Upper Mill 
and was forty or fifty rods from the 
Van Alstine mill. It stood at the base 
of the high land on the west side of 
the stream near the mouth of the 
gorge. Col. Frey was an extensive 
landholder and, in disposing of farms 
in Freysbush, he stipulated that the 
buyers should have their milling done 
at his mill. Near it was his stone 
dwelling, where he lived during the 
war. Henry Frey Cox inherited this 
property, in 1812 from his grandfather, 
Col. Frey, and with it about 750 acres 
of land mostly heavily timbered. 
Much of this timber John A. Ehle, who 
erected a store house, sawmill and dry 
dock below Canajoharie village, on the 
canal at its completion, sawed up and 
took to tidewater in boats of his own 
construction; thus, for several years, 
giving employment to a large number 
of men.. The Upper Mill property be- 
came the property in 1828 of Harvey 
St. John and Nicholas Van Alstine and 
for several years they manufactured 
flour for the New York market, work- 
ing up most of the wheat raised in 
this and several adjoining towns. The 
property passed through a good many 
hands until 1849 when the mill was 
burned down and never rebuilt, and 



160 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the stone house was burned only eight 
days after the mill. 

The first trader after the war, in the 
present town of Canajoharie, was Wil- 
liam Beekman, who located near Van 
Alstine's ferry, a mile east of (present) 
Canajoharie village in 1788. In a few 
years he moved to Sharon and became 
the pioneer merchant of that town. On 
the organization of Schoharie county 
in 1795 he was appointed the first 
judge of the common pleas bench, 
which position he held for nearly forty 
years. He was succeeded in his busi- 
ness at Canajoharie by Barent Rose- 
boom & Brothers, John and Abraham. 
Philip Van Alstine later became sole 
partner with Barent Roseboom, the 
firm occupying a store on the east side 
of Canajoharie creek, and within the 
present village limits, which then con- 
tained scarcely a dozen houses. 

The Kane brothers, seven in num- 
ber, came into Canajoharie very soon 
after the advent of Beekman, probably 
al)out 1790, and at first established 
themselves in business in the old stone 
dwelling of Philip Van Alstine, which 
was erected about 1750 and later be- 
came known as Port Rensselaer, it is 
still standing and tradition has it that 
Washington was here on his valley trip 
in 1783. The firm was known as John 
Kane & Brothers, but whether a'l of 
them were interested is not known. 
They were a family of smart young 
men and soon made their store the 
leading one in this section, so that, for 
a time, much of the trade of the Her- 
kimer county settlements centered 
here. These brothers were John, Elias, 
Charles, Elisha, Oliver, James and 
Archibald. Before long they built a 
stone dwelling with an arched roof at 
Martin Van Alstine's ferrv', a mile east 
of Canajoharie. This ferry had been 
in operation some time before the Rev- 
olution. At this place James and Ar- 
chibald Kane continued to trade until 
about 1805. Probably no business firm 
in the valley ever before became so 
widely known. In 1799 their purchases 
of potash and wheat amounted to 
$120,000. On leaving Canajoharie 
these famous brothers separated 
widely, John going to New York, Elias 



and James to Albany, Elisha to Phila- 
delphia, Oliver to Rhode Island, 
Charles to Glens Falls and Archibald 
to Hayti, where he married a sister of 
the black ruler of the country and 
where he afterward shortly died. The 
Kane dwelling came to be called the 
"round top," as it had a hip in its roof, 
which was covered with sheet lead. A 
little canal which led from the Kane 
store to the river was long visible. 

The war of the Revolution, as all 
wars do, inaugurated a dissolute per- 
iod of drinking, gambling and horse- 
racing, which lasted for years and was 
at its height at the time of the Kanes. 
Their house became the rendezvous for 
card players and a quarrel over stakes 
occurred on one occasion, resulting in 
a duel, April 18, 1801, in the small pine 
grove on the hill west of the Kane 
house. Barent Roseboom wounded 
Archibald Kane in the right arm. Dr. 
Webster of Fort Plain was Kane's sur- 
geon and charged him 10s — $1.25 — for 
each of his half-dozen visits but one 
for which the charge was 8s. The doc- 
tor lived four miles from his patient 
and the moderateness of his charges is 
said to have been characteristic of the 
man. 

About 1805 Henry Nazro had a store 
in the present limits of Canajoharie 
village. In a few years he was suc- 
ceeded by Abram Wemple, a good bus- 
iness man and a captain of a com- 
pany of militia cavalry. He is reputed 
to have been a "tall, handsome, and 
resolute officer, and died, greatly la- 
mented, about 1815." His father was 
with him in business in "the yellow 
building" vacated by Barent Roseboom. 
Joseph Failing succeeded as store- 
keeper in this place, when Wemple 
moved his business across the creek, 
in a new store which he built. Usher 
joined Failing and in 1817 one of the 
numerous fires, which afflicted Cana- 
joharie in the nineteenth century, 
wiped out the old Roseboom store in 
which they were doing business. Fail- 
ing also kept a tavern here. The 
Abram Wemple store was occupied in 
1826 by the somewhat eccentric Dick 
Bortle. Here at his opening he fixed 
up a lot of bottles with colored liquids 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



161 



to make a notable liquor show and 
here he kept a saloon. "He drew an 
easy fiddle bow, spun an inimitable 
yarn, and could gracefully entertain 
any guest from a beggar to a prince." 

James B. Alton, came from Ames 
and kept a store and public house but 
failed before the Erie canal was com- 
pleted. In 1821 Herman I. Ehle began 
business and in 1824 erected his store 
on the canal. Henry Lieber establish- 
ed himself here about 1822 and, in con- 
nection with his mills did a consider- 
able business. He built several canal 
boats for his own traffic and one, the 
"Prince Orange," was the first of the 
class called lake boats constructed in 
this part of the state. It was built in 
1826 and was launched at the site of 
the brick brewery and malt house 
built by Lieber in 1827. This building 
went in the great fire of 1877. One of 
the industries of this period, removed 
to Canajoharie from Palatine Bridge, 
was a furnace for plow and other cast- 
ings, the firm being Gibson, Johnson & 
Ehle. Herman I. Ehle, with whom the 
historian J. R. Simms, later of Fort 
Plain, was for two years a clerk and 
afterward a partner, was for a num- 
ber of years known as one of the best 
dry goods dealers in Central New York. 
John Taylor moved to Canajoharie, as 
a partner of Ehle in 1827. Edward H. 
Winans was in business in the village 
then. The above comprises what is 
known of the business life of Cana- 
joharie village at about the eventful 
and trade booming period of the con- 
struction of the Erie canal. 

Canajoharie's first physician was Dr. 
Jonathan Eights, who removed to Al- 
bany before 1820. To represent the 
legal profession, the village had in its 
earliest days Roger Dougherty and 
Alfred Conkling, father of Senator 
Roscoe Conkling, and a little later, 
Nicholas Van Alstine, a native of the 
locality. 

The first school in the present town 
of Canajoharie, stood on Seebers Lane, 
a mile and a half southwest of Cana- 
joharie village, and the district was 
styled "No. 1, in and for the town of 
Canajoharie" when the common school 
system was adopted. 



About 1797 a grist mill, a sawmill 
and a wheelwright's shop were set in 
operation at Ames in the town of Can- 
ajoharie. A pottery and nail factory 
followed. Russell and Mills were the 
first merchants of Ames, beginning 
business about 1800. 

Jacob Ehle and James Knox, his 
brother-in-law, settled at Mapletown, in 
Canajoharie township, in 1791, paying 
$2,621/^ per acre for their lands. Mr. 
Ehle built his house on the old Indian 
trail from Canajoharie to New Dor- 
lach (Sharon Springs) and, in clear- 
ing his lands he left all the promising 
hard maple trees. This "sugar bush" 
gave the settlement its name. 

Marshville, in the town of Canajo- 
harie, was the site of a sawmill built 
at an early day by one of the Seeber 
family. Stephen and Henry Garlock 
later operated this property. At this 
place one Joe Carley did the horse and 
ox shoeing for a large circle of the 
country, being near the main route to 
Cherry Valley. Carley flourished after 
the war of 1812, during the "shinplas- 
ter" period. Some sheep were stolen 
from a farmer named Goertner and the 
thief was traced to a nearby dwelling, 
where bones and horns were found 
under a floor. Shortly after manu- 
script shinplasters appeared purport- 
ing to be issued by "The Muttonville 
Bank, Joe Carley, President" and "pay- 
able in good merchantable mutton." 
Hence came the name "Muttonville," 
by which the little hamlet is some- 
times called. 

The following gives an idea of how 
matters stood with the smaller far- 
mers and poorer classes of this sec- 
tion at about the year 1800. Beer's 
History tells of an interview with Mrs. 
Bryars of Ames, whose family were 
early settlers of that place. "In her 
mother's time, the neighbors would 
live for six weeks in succession with- 
out bread, subsisting upon potatoes, 
butter and salt. Barns were so scarce 
that grain had to be hauled many 
miles to be threshed; hence farmers 
put off the job until they had finished 
sowing their winter grain, living with- 
out breadstuffs rather than lose the 
time necessary for threshing. Mrs. 



162 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Bryars was married in petticoat and 
short gown and Mr. Bryars in linen 
pantaloons [and it is presumed a coat 
and shirt] ; neither wore shoes or 
stockings. Philip Button of Ames, 
says that his grandfather, Jonah 
Phelps, cleared the place where But- 
ton lives and that he used to carry 
his grist on his back two and a half 
miles to Sharon Springs. He made 
his first payment ($10) on his place by 
burning potash. Mr. Button's great- 
grandfather, Benjamin Button, was for 
five years a soldier in the American 
army of the Revolution. Being grant- 
ed a furlough of three days he walked 
seventy miles between sunrise and 
sunset to his home. He remained 
there one day and walked back to his 
regiment the next." 



The town of Root is today a beau- 
tiful and fertile agricultural section. 
Business and trade have always taken 
second place to the important work 
of farming. Its business development 
occurred mostly at and after the build- 
ing of the Erie canal which is the limit 
of the period of trade growth we are 
considering. 

Before the canal period, John Mc- 
Kernon had established a store in 
Currytown. He retired from this bus- 
iness and about 1820 was engaged in 
the work of building a bridge across 
the Mohawk in this town at the point 
now known as Randall. 

A mill was built before this date on 
Yatesville creek (the Wasontha). 
About a mile below Rural Grove, oc- 
curs what is known as Vrooman's 
Falls, a perpendicular cataract of 
about twenty-five feet, which, when 
the stream is in full flow, is a most 
attractive spectacle. Here stood Vroo- 
man's grist mill and his name has been 
perpetuated in the natural water 
power that turned his mill wheel. The 
building was carried off bodily by a 
flood in 1813 and dashed to pieces 
against a large elm. 

Only the half of the town of Root, 
west of the Big Nose, was in the old 
Canajoharie district, but the whole 
town is included in the accounts in 
these sketches. 



Palatine is the oldest section settled 
by whites in old Tryon county. Hen- 
drick Frey located in the wilderness at 
now Palatine Bridge in 1689, as before 
stated and here came the Palatine im- 
migrants at some time about 1711 or 
1712. Minden seems to have been set- 
tled in the Dutchtown and Freysbush 
sections a few years after, in 1720, and 
St. Johnsville about that time or a 
lew years later. Canajoharie, Dan- 
ube, Root and Manheim were then 
colonized by Germans and a few 
Dutch within a comparatively short 
time. Prior to the Revolution, there 
were storekeepers or traders as they 
were called in the Palatine settle- 
ments. The latter town has always 
been a strictly agricultural commun- 
ity. Fox's mills on the Caroga were 
burned in the Stone Arabia raid of 
1780. Major Schuyler rebuilt mills on 
this stream about 1784. Major Jellis 
Fonda had a mill on the Canagara 
creek, near the present county home 
(the old Schenck place). About 1800, 
on the improvement of the Mohawk 
(north shore) turnpike, many taverns 
sprang up in Palatine, along this route, 
which formed a considerable indus- 
try. The first postoffice in the 
town was established at Palatine 
Church in 1813. It is said that, 
during the war of 1812, when a person 
wished to send a letter to a valley 
friend or relative with the American 
army at Sackett's Harbor, he left it 
at any hotel on the turnpike. The 
landlord would then hand it to any 
teamster going that way, "who would 
carry it as far as he went on the road, 
and then pass it to another of his craft 
and in that way it would [possibly] 
eventually reach its destination." The 
first brewery in Palatine was erected 
about 1800 by a German named Moyer. 
It was situated about a mile north of 
Stone Arabia and was in operation only 
a few years. 

In regard to the schools of Pala- 
tine, Beer's History says: "Until 
after the close of the Revolutionary 
war German was the prevailing lan- 
guage and, probably without an excep- 
tion, the schools prior to that date 
were taught in the German tongue. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



163 



Soon after the restoration of peace, 
people from New England began to 
settle here, followed immediately by 
the innovation of the 'Yankee school- 
master.' Among the early teachers of 
English schools in the town were John 
Martin and men named Crookenburg 
and Mackey. The former [Martin] 
taught in the vicinity of Oswegatchie 
about 1795 and a building was subse- 
quently erected for his school. It was 
linished with living apartments in one 
end and a school room in the other. 
He was succeeded by his son in the 
early nineteenth century. Mackey 
taught about 1795 near Stone Arabia 
and Crookenburg kept school near 
Palatine Church." 

The first school commissioners and 
inspectors of schools were elected, in 
accordance with a new act of the leg- 
islature in April, 1813. They were 
Abraham Sternburgh, Henry J. Frey 
and John Quilhart, commissioners; 
and John J. Nellis, John I. Cook, Rich- 
ard Young, Jost A. Snell and Har- 
manus Van Slyck, inspectors. The 
town was first divided into school dis- 
tricts — eleven in number, Dec. 7, 1814, 
by David T. Zielley, Andrew Gray and 
Chauncey Hutchinson, school commis- 
sioners. In the spring of 1815, a redi- 
vision was made, creating in all seven- 
teen districts. It will be remembered 
that at that time (and until the forma- 
tion of Fulton from Montgomery 
county in 1838) Palatine embraced the 
present town of Ephratah. There are 
now twelve well-apportioned districts, 
a few of which are fractional, and 
eleven schoolhouses within its limits. 

A union academy, the first within 
the present boundaries of Montgom- 
ery county, was established at Stone 
Arabia and incorporated by the Re- 
gents of the University, March 31, 1795, 
as "The Union Academy of Palatine." 
The only records obtainable relating 
to this institution, are in connection 
with the Reformed church of that 
place. At a meeting of the consistory, 
held January 24, 1795, composed of 
Rev. D. Christian Peck, pastor; Henry 
Loucks and Christian Fink, elders and 
John Snell and Dietrich Coppernoll, 
deacons, it was "resolved that the five 



acres of church land of the Reformed 
Dutch church of Stone Arabia, which 
are not given to the present minister 
as a part of his salary, shall be given 
and presented to the use and benefit 
of the Union Academy to be erected 
at Stone Arabia." On the 14th of No- 
vember, 1795, the board of trustees, 
through their president, Charles New- 
kirk, asked and obtained permission 
from the consistory of the Reformed 
church to occupy their school house 
(which appears to have been a part of 
the parsonage which had been used for 
school purposes), for one year for the 
use of the academy. 

John Nifher was probably its first 
principal and its teacher of English. 
The academy building was a two-story 
frame structure, erected by subscrip- 
tion and completed in 1799. Its site 
was immediately opposite the Reform- 
ed church. Fire destroyed it about 
1807 and it was never rebuilt. 

Directly after the Revolution, prob- 
ably in the summer of the years be- 
tween 1784 and 1786, Molly Brant, with 
two of her grown up children, came 
down from Canada to recover prop- 
erty willed them in Philadelphia Bush. 
One of the children was George John- 
son, who was of a dark complexion 
and the other was the wife of Dr. Carr, 
late a surgeon in the British army. 
They all visited Major Philip Schuyler 
at Palatine Church, where he was 
erecting mills on Caroga creek. Fox's 
mills there having been burned by the 
enemy. Mills were rebuilt on the op- 
posite side of the creek. Maj. Schuy- 
ler was one of the commissioners ap- 
pointed to look after such claims as 
those of Molly Brant and her children. 
The heirs were too young to forfeit 
their inheritance and recovered pay 
for lands now in Mayfleld and Perth. 
While at Schuyler's, the party con- 
versed in the Mohawk dialect, except 
Dr. Carr. Mrs. Schuyler, when night 
came on, was quite perplexed to know 
how to dispose of her guests, as the 
carpenters and millwrights were oc- 
cupying all of her beds. Molly Brant 
set her at ease by assuring her that 
they would care for themselves and 
spreading their blankets on the floor, 



164 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



they camped down in true Indian 
style, to Mrs. Schuyler's great relief. 

In 1784, Moses Van Camp worked 
for Garret Walrath, who had a black- 
smith shop in Palatine about half a mile 
westward from the Fort Plain depot 
and near the ferry of that day. While 
trying to drive away some Indians, 
who were stealing Walrath's potatoes, 
one of the savages threatened Van 
Camp with a knife whereupon the 
blacksmith killed him with a hammer. 
The Palatine man narrowly escaped a 
tomohawk hurled at him, by a brother 
of his victim, at Fort Stanwix a year 
or two later. 

In 1836 a monument was erected 
over the grave of Col. Brown in Stone 
Arabia by his son, Henry Brown of 
Berkshire, Mass., and on the 19th day 
of October, 1836, a meeting was held 
at the burial place in honor of the 
event and of the patriot's memory. A 
large assemblage was present and in- 
cluded some veterans of the Stone 
Arabia action. A sermon was preach- 
ed by Rev. Abraham Van Home of 
Caughnawaga, and a patriotic address 
was delivered by Gerrit Roof of Cana- 
joharie (a grandson of Johannes Roof, 
the Revolutionary patriot). In a por- 
tion of his speech Roof addressed the 
veterans as follows: 

"I see before me a little remnant of 
those intrepid spirits who fought in 
the memorable engagement of October 
19, 1780. Fifty-six years ago this day 
you battled with greatly superior num- 
bers, consisting of British regulars, 
loyalists and savages. Venerable pa- 
triots, we bid you welcome this day! 
In the name of your country, we 
thank you for the important services 
you rendered in the dark hours of her 
tribulation. Be assured they will be 
held in grateful remembrance while the 
Mohawk shall continue to wind its 
course through yonder rich and fertile 
valley. They will be the theme of 
praise long after the marble, erected 
this day to the memory of your brave 
commander, shall have crumbled to 
dust. Fifty-six years ago, this day, 
these hills re.sounded with the din of 



arms and the roar of musketry. Look 
yonder! The field — the field is before 
us — the field on which the heroic 
Brown poured out his life's blood in 
defense of his country. You fought 
by his side. You saw him as he fell, 
covered with wounds and with face to 
the foe. * * * His was that bravery 
that quailed not before tyranny, and 
that feared not death. His was the 
patriotism that nerves the arm of the 
warrior, battling for the liberties of 
his country, and leads him on to the 
performance of deeds of glory." 



The town of St. Johnsville was set- 
tled about 1725. It was part of Pala- 
tine until 1808 and its early history, 
both as to events and commerce, is 
largely that of the older town. The 
first settlement at the village of St. 
Johnsville was made in 1776 by Jacob 
Zimmerman, who built the first grist 
mill in the town soon after. George 
Klock built another in 1801. David 
Quackenbush erected the third grist 
mill in 1804. This became later the 
Thumb iron foundry and the saw and 
planing mill of Thumb & Flanders. In 
1825 James Averill built a stone grist 
mill and distillery. Christopher Nellis 
kept a tavern at St. Johnsville in 1783 
and a store in 1801. The foregoing are 
the industries that the writer has 
knowledge of which were located at St. 
Johnsville prior to the completion of 
the Erie canal in 1825. 

Henry Hayes taught a German 
school at an early day and Lot Ryan, 
an Irishman, taught the first English 
school in 1792. 



Danul^e and Manheim were included 
in Western Montgomery county up to 
1817. They were and are agricultural 
towns. The development of Dolgeville 
came at a period later than that herein 
described. In 1817 the eastern boun- 
dary of Herkimer county was moved 
from Fall Hill to East Creek and the 
old Canajoharie and Palatine districts 
towns were divided between two coun- 
ties. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



165 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Five Revolutionary Churches of 
Western Montgomery County — Other 
Revolutionary Churches in Mont- 
gomery and Fulton Counties and in 
Danube and Manheim. 

The first Reformed Dutch church 
of Canajoharie (now the Reformed 
church of Fort Plain) was erected in 
1750 on Sand Hill, a little above the 
Abeel place, on the Dutchtown road. 
The Germans who, about 1720, settled 
the town of Minden, at first located 
principally in the Dutchtown section. 
The road through that section led 
down to the river at Sand Hill where 
there was a ferry. The road across 
the flats (raised several feet to make 
it passable in times of flood), to this 
crossing- of the Mohawk, is still plainly 
visible. At this central point would 
be a natural gathering place of the 
people and here the German frontiers- 
men erected the first known house of 
worship in the Canajoharie district. 
Of this church. Rev. A. Rosencrantz 
was the pastor for the first eight 
j'ears. This building was of wood and 
stood in a sightly spot on the westerly 
side of the Dutchtown road, in front 
of the burial ground still to be seen 
(1913), surrounded by its dying grove 
of ancient pine trees. As previously 
told the church was burned in the In- 
dian raid of 1780, after which services 
were held in a barn that stood on the 
old William Lipe farm in a ravine, 
through which the road ran from the 
river ferry up the hill to the gate of 
old Fort Plain. This old barn was 
torn down and a new one erected on 
its site in 1859. An old dwelling 
standing below it was over a century 
old when it was demolished in 1875 to 
give place to the present one of brick. 
These buildings, with several others, 
were so near the fort that the enemy 
never ventured to injure them. An- 
other one so protected was an old 
house which was torn down by Har- 
vey E. Williams when he built the 
present large brick dwelling on upper 
Canal street about 1870. 

A new church edifice, erected on the 
site of the old one at the close of the 



war, was also constructed of wood, 
and was a large and well proportioned 
building, with a small half-round pul- 
pit having a short uncushioned bench 
for its seat that would accommodate 
only one sitter; while over the domi- 
nie's head was a dangerous looking 
sounding board. The church had a 
gallery on three sides and was topped 
by a steeple without a bell. It was 
built by contract by Peter March for 
£1,000 ($2,500 at that time). A light- 
ning rod on the building having be- 
come broken, it was struck during a 
storm and considerable damage was 
done. 

General Washington died Dec. 14, 
1799, and his death was solemnly 
ol)served at this church, as at many 
others throughout the land. As a 
number of days was then necessary to 
spread the news of important events 
throughout the land, the funeral cere- 
monies did not take place until the 
latter part of December, 1799. The 
weather was cold, but there was little 
snow on the ground and the gathering 
of people was immense. The church 
was beautifully decorated with ever- 
greens and crepe and was literally 
packed with an interested audience. 
The Rev. Isaac Labaugh officiated and 
his discourse was afterward published. 
Led in a procession was a caparisoned 
horse with holsters upon the saddle, 
to which was also attached a pair of 
boots, indicating the loss of a soldier. 
This was the custom at the funeral of 
an officer, or cavalryman. Where the 
procession formed is not known but 
probalily at the tavern of Nicholas 
Dygert, then located next beyond the 
Christian Bellinger place, westward of 
the church. This was perhaps the 
most important and imposing observ- 
ance of Washington's death witnessed 
in the Mohawk valley, and not a few 
were there assembled who saw the 
national leader on his visit to Fort 
Plain in the summer of 1783, sixteen 
years before, when his excursion ex- 
tended to Fort Schuyler and up the 
Otsquago valley to Cherry Valley and 
from thence to the foot of Otsego lake 
at the present site of Cooperstown. 



166 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Following the first pastor of the 
first Reformed Dutch church of Cana- 
joharie, Rev. A. Rosencrantz, came 
Rev. Ludwig Luppe, Rev. Kennipe, 
Rev. J. L. Broeflle, Dr. John Daniel 
Gros (1776 (?)-1788), Rev. A. Christian 
Diedrich Peck (1788 to 1796), Dr. John 
Daniel Gros (1796 to 1800), Rev. Isaac 
Labaugh (from 1800 to 1803 pastor of 
the Reformed churches of Fort Plain, 
Stone Arabia and Sharon), Rev. J. I. 
Wack (1803 to 1816). Dominie Kennipe 
was mercilessly beaten one day, as he 
was riding along the river, by his fel- 
low traveler, a hard man named Die!. 
"The minister would not prosecute but 
appealed to God, and, strange to say, 
both men died on the same night." 
Doininie Peck is described as "a portly 
man, an amateur equestrian, who left 
behind him the reputation of an un- 
surpassed orator." Great congrega- 
tions thronged to hear him. Dr. Gros 
was "a man of considerable learning 
who had been professor of moral phil- 
osophy in Columbia college," New 
York city. Dominie Wack was an 
army chaplain in the war of 1812 and 
"a man of commanding personal ap- 
pearance." The Reformed church at 
Sand Hill ceased to exist when the 
church society moved to its present 
site in Fort Plain and erected a church 
in 1834. This event practically marks 
the end of Sand Hill or old Fort Plain, 
the new canal town of that name tak- 
ing up its story. 



The Reformed church of Stone Ara- 
bia was the oldest church west of 
Schenectady, having been formed by 
Rev. John Jacob Ehle in 1711. Ehle 
was Reformed minister for this section 
and his services were conducted in 
German. A log church was first erect- 
ed about 1711 on the lot now occupied 
by the Lutheran church. In 1733 the 
joint Lutheran and Reformed societies 
erected a frame church where the Re- 
formed house of worship now is lo- 
cated. A disagreement arose as to the 
denomination of the new church and 
the Lutherans withdrew to the log 
church. Dominie Ehle was followed 
by Rev. Johannes Schuyler (1743-1751), 
Rev. Armilo Wernig (1751-1758), Rev. 



Abraham Rosencrantz (1759-1769). 
Rev. Mr. Rosencrantz at first preached 
only at Schoharie and Stone Arabia, 
but later had charge also of the Re- 
formed churches of Canajoharie (at 
Fort Plain), St. Johnsville and Ger- 
man Flatts, supervising, in that way, 
the religious instruction of almost the 
entire western Mohawk valley popula- 
tion of the Reformed faith. His salary 
at Stone Arabia was £70 annually, 
paid promptly as the receipts show, 
and from all the churches his salary 
must have been considerable for that 
time. He came to this country from 
Germany when a young man and mar- 
ried a sister of General Herkimer. He 
later settled at German Flats, w-here 
he died in 1794 and was buried under 
the Reformed church there. From 
1769 to 1787 Stone Arabia church seems 
to have been without a pastor, al- 
though supplied occasionally by Do- 
minie Gross of the Fort Plain church 
and by Dominie Rosenkrantz. The 
Stone Arabia Dutch Reformed church 
as well as that of the Lutherans was 
burned by the Tory and Indian force 
under Johnson and Brant, Oct. 19, 1780. 
After the Revolution a frame building 
was erected. In 1788 Rev. D. C. A. 
Peck was called and a new stone 
church was built at a cost of $3,378, 
which was considered at that time the 
best church building west of Schenec- 
tady. It is today the best and most 
interesting example of the eighteenth 
century Mohawk valley church archi- 
terture in this section. Philip Schuy- 
ler was the master mechanic. The 
workmen were boarded near by, the 
women of the church taking turns 
cooking for them. The Rev. Mr. Peck 
preached here in the German language 
only but kept the records in English. 
In 1797 he was called to German Flats 
and went from there to New York, 
where he fell dead in the street in 
1802. In 1799 the adjoining parsonage 
was built and Rev. Isaac Labaugh of 
Kinderhook became pastor in connec- 
tion with the Fort Plain church. It 
is significant of the trend of those 
times and also of the racial strains in 
the old Palatine district at this period 
that the consistorial minutes show 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



167 



Dominie Labaugh was to preach in 
three different languages as follows: 
"He shall preach two sermons in the 
German languages, then one in En- 
glish, then two again in German, then 
one in Low Dutch." In 1S03 this order 
was changed to two sermons in En- 
glish instead of one, which is also sig- 
nificant of the growth of the English 
language and its attendant institu- 
tions and customs in this midsection 
of the Mohawk valley. Rev. J. J. 
Wack preached here in German and 
English from 1804 to 182S, also minis- 
tering to the Fort Plain church at the 
same time. His salary was $200 from 
each church, $1 for each marriage or 
funeral, and 50 cents for each infant 
baptism. Rev. Isaac Ketcham (1830- 
1836) and Rev. B. B. Westfall (1838- 
1844) were succeeding pastors. Under 
the latter the church was repaired and 
a new bell procured. This church at 
its formation in 1711 was the only one 
in a district where eight Reformed 
churches are now. 



The Stone Arabia Lutheran church 
dates from the separation of the united 
Reformed and Lutheran societies in 
1733. Rev. William Christian Buck- 
meyer came here from Loonenburg on 
the Hudson and was the first pastor. 
Succeeding him were Rev. Peter Nich- 
olas Sommer (1743), Rev. Frederick 
Rees (1751), Rev. Theopilus England 
(1763), Rev. Frederick Reis (1773), 
Rev. Philip Grotz (1780). It was dur- 
ing Dominie Grotz's labors, in 1792, 
that the present frame Lutheran 
church was built at Stone Arabia. 
Rev. Peter Wilhelm Domier came 
here from Germany and was pastor 
from 1811 to 1826, when he returned to 
his native country. All these pastors 
had preached in German and the first 
dominie to have services in the En- 
glish language, as well, was Rev. John 
D. Lawyer, who was here from 1827 
to 1838. 

Sir William Johnson, in a charac- 
teristic letter dated April 4, 1771, to 
the Rev. Dr. Auchmutty, writes as 
follows: "I desired our friend, Mr. 
Inglis [the Rev. Theopilus England, 
pastor of the Lutheran church of Stone 



Arabia from 1763 to 1773] to mention 
a Circumstance concerning Religion 
here that I think you ought to know. 
The Lutheran minister at Stoneraby 
has lately in a voluntary Manner with- 
out any previous Arguments to induce 
him thereto desired to take orders in 
the Church of England, and what is 
much more Strange, It is the desire of 
his Congregation that he should do so. 
The great difficulty is That, they will 
be without a Minister during his ab- 
sence, and that it will be attended with 
an expence which from their great 
Occonomy, they do not chuse to In- 
curr, Especially as they have some 
Charitable Establishments amongst 
themselves that are chargeable. If 
* * * * it Could be Carried through 
without making much noise. It would 
add the Majority of Inhabitants of a 
very fine Settlement to the Church, 
and as they are Foreigners must 
strengthen their allegiance to the 
Gov't." Dr. Auchmutty replied from 
New York favorably to the change of 
denomination but whether from the 
"great Occonomy" of the church for- 
bidding them to send their minister to 
England for ordination, or for some 
other reason, nothing seems to have 
come of the proposal. 



The "Palatine Evangelical Lutheran 
Church" edifice, at Palatine Church, is 
the oldest church building now stand- 
ing within the limits of Montgomery 
and Fulton counties. It was also the first 
church structure in the Palatine or 
Canajoharie districts to be fittingly 
built of a permanent material such as 
the stone of which it is constructed. 
Others were mostly of clapboards at 
that time. It was erected in 1770 of 
stone by the generous donations of a 
few individuals. Peter Wagner and 
Andrew Reber contributed £100 each. 
Johannes Hess and six Nellises, name- 
ly, William jr., Andrew, Johannes, 
Henry, Christian and David each gave 
£60, while the building of the spire, 
which seems to have been an after 
consideration, was paid for by the 
Nellis family exclusively. This church, 
unlike most others in the valley, was 
not destroyed by the British raiders of 



168 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the Revolution, for the reason, it is 
supposed of the Tory proclivities of 
one or more of the Nellis family. It 
remained as originally built for a cen- 
tury, when it was remodeled and re- 
paired at a cost of $4,000 and in the 
fall of 1870, on its one hundredth an- 
niversary, a large celebration and fair 
was held, at which Gov. Seymour de- 
livered an appropriate address. Many 
later celebrations have been held here 
and the church has been restored. In 
its early history, this society seems 
never to have had any independent 
church organization but was supplied 
by ministers from other churches, 
principally the Lutheran church of 
Stone Arabia. 



ton Berne, Switzerland, and was ap- 
pointed by the 'high German authori- 
ties of Palatine district, Canajoharie 
Castle' to the church, July 13, 1788." 



As early as 1756 a Reformed church 
was erected in the eastern part of the 
town of St. Johnsville by Christian 
Klock. The Rev. Mr. Rosenkrantz was 
the first preacher and John Henry 
Disland the second. This structure 
was torn down in 1818 and a church 
was erected in the present village. 
This was replaced in the latter nine- 
teenth century by the present substan- 
tial brick church edifice. 

Mason's History says of St. John's 
Reformed church of St. Johnsville: 
"The name St. Johnsville was un- 
questionably derived from St. John's 
Reformed church, erected in 1770 and 
moved to the village in 1804 * * * 
The Reformed church of St. Johnsville 
is one of the oldest religious societies 
in the Mohawk valley, its history dat- 
ing back to the middle of the eigh- 
teenth century. The present hand- 
some brick edifice was built in 1881. 
* * * The church received the name 
of 'St. John's Dutch Reformed' during 
the latter part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and reliable records indicate that 
the church title suggested a name for 
the village. This fact has been sub- 
stantiated in a great degree by Rev. 
P. Furbeck, who devoted a great deal 
of attention to the subject. The Rev. 
Abram Rosenkrantz, who first minis- 
tered to the Dutch Reformed church, 
was a historic character, as was also 
his successor, Rev. John Henry Dyslin. 
The latter was born in Burgdorf, Can- 



It is only the province of this sketch 
to treat of the churches which were in 
existence in the five west end towns 
of Montgomery at the time of the for- 
mation of the Canajoharie and Pala- 
tine districts of Tryon county in 1772. 
Their story is continued until about 
the end of the story of Old Fort Plain, 
which may be put at 1834, when the 
Reformed church of Fort Plain with- 
drew from its old home in the Sand 
Hill section and erected a new church 
at its present P^ort Plain site. These 
details throw light on the life of the 
people, during this changeful period, 
at the end of the eighteenth and the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. 
Shortly after this time, church socie- 
ties of other denominations were form- 
ed in great numbers in the five towns 
under consideration. 

In 1794 a Free Will Baptist church 
society was formed several miles west 
of Ames, in the township of Canajo- 
harie, and in 1796 it was removed to 
that settlement. This was the first 
known religious organization in that 
town. Its present church at Ames was 
built in 1832. 

So far as known there was no church 
in the present village of Canajoharie, 
prior to the Revolution, the first house 
of worship, in that settlement, being 
a union church which was built in 
1818. Rev. George B. Miller, a Luth- 
eran, was the first settled preacher. 
He had many difficulties to contend 
with, among them being that of having 
to be his own chorister. In this mu- 
sical capacity he had to compete with 
the bugles played on the line and 
packet boats in the summer of 1826, 
the first year of through canaling. 
The canal had been dug so near the 
church as to leave barely room for 
the tow path. These instruments were 
even sounded before the open windows 
in prayer time and it was not until an 
appeal was made to the state authori- 
ties that this nuisance was broken up. 
Mr. Miller was pastor for nine years 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



169 



and later died at Hartwick seminary, 
of which he was long principal. Be- 
fore the erection of this union church, 
the people in the present township of 
Canajoharie probably attended the 
Stone Arabia or Fort Plain churches. 
After the organization of the Reform- 
ed church in 1827 other church socie- 
ties soon were formed in the village 
of Canajoharie 

In the town of Root a Dutch Re- 
formed church was organized at Cur- 
rytown about 1790 and a church was 
liuilt and dedicated in 1809, which was 
remodeled in 1849 and the spire re- 
built. This was the first church so- 
ciety in Root and the only one in ex-s 
istence before 1800. 



Mention has been made of the Indian 
Castle (Danube) church, _ erected by 
Sir William Johnson in the western 
part of the Canajoharie district about 
1760, largely for the use of the Mo- 
hawks then residing there. It is 
said that Samuel Clyde, later colonel 
of the Canajoharie battalion or regi- 
ment of militia, superintended its con- 
struction. 

Lossing writes of the church at In- 
dian Castle, which with the Herkimer 
house, constitute an interesting pair 
of pre-Revolutionary objects of the 
town of Danube and of the old Cana- 
joharie district. "The Castle church, 
as it is called — the middle one of the 
three constructed under the auspices 
of Sir William Johnson — is still stand- 
ing (1848), two and a half miles below 
the Herkimer mansion. It is a wooden 
building, and was originally so paint- 
ed as to resemble stone. Its present 
steeple is not ancient, but the form is 
not unlike that of the original. Here 
the pious Kirkland often preached the 
Gospel to the heathen, and here Brant 
and his companions received lessons 
of heavenly wisdom. The church 
stood upon land that belonged to the 
sachem, and the house of Brant, where 
Christian missionaries were often en- 
tertained before he took up the war 
hatchet, stood about seventy-five rods 
northward of the church. Bricks and 
stones of the foundation are still to 
be seen in an apple orchard north of 



the road, and the locality was well de- 
fined, when I visited it, by rank weeds, 
nowhere else in the field so luxuriant." 
Previous mention has been made of 
the stealing of the bell of the "Castle 
church" by hostile Indians during the 
Revolution. The savages probably in- 
tended to take this souvenir of their 
old house of worship to install in a 
new Indian church in Canada. The 
marauders forgot to secure the clap- 
per and its clanging roused the Ger- 
man patriots of the neighborhood, who 
sallied forth and recovered the bell 
and returned it to its place. 



The "old yellow church" is situated 
in the western part of Manheim about 
three miles northerly from Little Falls 
at what was formerly known as Rem- 
ensneider's Bush, almost on the line 
between the" town of Little Falls and 
Manheim, where there was a consid- 
erable settlement at the time of the 
Revolution. Here was a mill and a 
block house and this was the scene of 
the raid in April, 1778. At this church 
are buried 35 Revolutionary patriot 
soldiers. 

Before the war of independence a 
Reformed Dutch church was organized 
in Manheim and a building erected. 
The Manheim Reformed church was 
burned during the Revolution ^nd re- 
built soon after. This building re- 
mained standing until 1850 w^hen the 
present new frame edifice took its 
place. Rev. Caleb Alexander, who 
made a tour of the valley in 1801, 
wrote: "Between Fairfield and Little 
Falls is a Dutch settlement called 
Manheim, rich farms, a meeting house 
and a minister." This is the only 
Revolutionary church society in the 
town of Manheim. 



Aside from the five Revolutionary 
churches of western Montgomery 
mentioned in the foregoing, the other 
sectarian buildings or societies of that 
time, within the present limits of 
Montgomery and Fulton counties, are 
noted as follows: Queen Anne's 
Chapel at Fort Hunter was erected 
about 1710, the year before the build- 
ing of the fort. Beer's (1878) History 



170 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



says: "The liberality of Queen Anne 
caused the erection and endowment of 
a chapel and manse. The manse is 
still standing in sturdy strength. It is 
a two-story stone building, about 25 
by 35 feet, and is, perhaps, the oldest 
structure in the Mohawk valley, west 
of Schenectadj' [county line]. * * * 
This chapel contained a veritable or- 
gan, the very Christopher Columbus of 
its kind, in all probability the first in- 
strument of music of such dignity in 
the wilderness west of Albany. Queen 
Anne in 1712 sent as furniture for the 
chapel a number of silver dishes and 
a quantity of church furnishings and 
supplies (including bibles) for this 
chapel and for missionary use among 
the Mohawks and Onondagas. This 
chapel was destroyed by the building 
of the Erie canal." At the time of the 
building of Queen Anne's chapel the 
Dutch Reformed and Episcopal de- 
nominations supported missions or 
missionaries among the Iroquois tribes. 

A mile east of Minaville in the town 
of Florida (in which Fort Hunter is 
also situated) a Reformed church was 
erected before 1784. 

The Caughnawaga Reformed Dutch 
church was built in 1763 at the eastern 
end of Caughnawaga (Fonda) in the 
present town of Mohawk. It was a 
stone structure and served the people 
of its neighborhood until 1842 when 
its congregation removed to worship 
in a church nearer the railroad sta- 
tion. In 1868 this noted building was 
torn down. 

An English church (which became 
the present St. John's Episcopal) was 
built of stone in Johnstown in 1771, 
by Johnson, and is mentioned in pre- 
ceding chapters. In 1836 this struc- 
ture was burned and in 1837 a new 
church was erected. Sir William 
Johnson gave his Lutheran and Pres- 
byterian neighbors glebes of 50 acres 
each and their church societies, at 
least, were in existence prior to the 
Revolution. These are the only Revo- 
lutionary church societies of Fulton 
coxmty. 



existence in western Montgomery 
county, before or during the Revolu- 
tion: Three Reformed churches at 
Stone Arabia, Fort Plain, St. Johns- 
ville; two Lutheran churches at Stone 
Arabia and Palatine Church. In the 
Canajoharie and Palatine districts 
were seven churches — four Reformed 
churches at Stone Arabia, Fort Plain, 
St. Johnsville and Manheim; two 
Lutheran churches at Stone Arabia 
and Palatine Church and one Episco- 
pal or Union church at Indian Castle, 
Danube. In Montgomery county were 
eight Revolutionary churches — five Re- 
formed churches at Stone Arabia, Fort 
Plain, St. Johnsville, Caughnawaga 
(Fonda) and Minaville; two Lutheran 
churches at Stone Arabia and Palatine 
Church and one Episcopal church at 
Fort Hunter. In Fulton county were 
three Revolutionary church societies- 
Episcopal, Lutheran and Presbyterian. 
In Fulton and Montgomery counties 
(or old Montgomery county prior to 
1838) were eleven church societies at 
the end of the Revolution. All of these 
are in existence, with the exception of 
the Episcopal church at Fort Hunter, 
which was destroyed by the building 
of the Erie canal, as previously stated. 



The foregoing shows the following 
five churches or church societies in 



Hon. Francis Granger, postmaster- 
general under Gen. W. H. Harrison, has 
left an account of a Sunday at the 
old Caughnawaga Reformed Dutch 
church, which deserves a place here as 
illuminating the life of the times. A 
condensation of his narrative follows: 

" * * * Loads of the worshippers 
were coming in from the country. As 
fast as the women alighted from the 
sheepskin-bottomed chairs which 
formed the seats in the wagons, the 
men, after providing for their teams, 
repaired to a neighboring bar-room. 
Gravely, as befitted the day, each or- 
dered a drink. Having drained his 
glass, the thirsty Christian thrust his 
hand deep in his pocket and drew forth 
a long, narrow leather wallet, with a 
string w-oven in the neck, rolled up 
around the coin which it contained. 
Taking the purse by the bottom and 
emptying the cash into his left hand 
he selected a sixpence and laying it 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



171 



before the landlord, poured back the 
remainder into the depths of the wal- 
let, folded it carefully up, restored it 
to his pocket, and returned to the 
church. Thither Mr. Granger also be- 
took himself. An officious usher took 
him in charge, and, shutting him up in 
one of the high-partitioned box pews, 
which occupied most of the floor, left 
him to pursue his meditations. The 
most noticeable feature of the odd in- 
terior of the building was the pulpit, 
which was a little five-sided coop, 
perched aloft on a slender support, 
reached by the narrowest of stairways, 
and canopied by a sounding board 
that completely roofed it over. On the 
wall, on either side of the pulpit, hung 
a pole several feet in length, suspend- 
ed by an iron hoop or ring, from which 
also depended a little bag with a bell 
at the bottom. In due time the clergy- 
man entered, and, mounting the slen- 
der stairway, seated himself in his 
little domain, which barely contained 
him. From his fresh and rubicund 
face, it would almost seem that his 
parishioners were countenanced by 
him in their matter of their Sunday 
morning dram. Here, thought the vis- 
itor, observant of his glowing features, 
was a light of the church set in a 
Dutch candlestick and covered with an 
umbrella, to prevent any untimely ex- 
tinguishment. The congregation en- 
tered heartily into the singing, and 
Mr. Granger thought it might be good 
worship, though sad music. At the 
proper stage, the ushers, taking down 
the scoop nets from beside the pulpit 
went fishing expertly among the wor- 
shipers for a collection, tinkling the 
little bells appended, as if to warn 
them to be ready with their change. 
There was need of notice, for getting 
at the coin was the same deliberate 
operation as at the tavern. There was 
the diving for the purse, the unrolling 
and emptying of the contents; but the 
observer noted that the burgher's eye 
scanned his palm for a penny instead 
of a sixpence. When they had gone 
the round of the house, the collectors 
took their turn at the performance, 
seeming to hear the Head of the Church 
saying, as of old 'Bring me a penny.' 



The dominie had got well into his ser- 
mon, in a commonplace way, before he 
saw Mr. Granger. Then, at the sight 
of a well-dressed and intelligent 
stranger in the house, he perceptibly 
roused himself, and became really elo- 
quent. At the close of the service he 
had an interview with the visitor, who 
assured him, in all sincerity, that he 
was never more interested in a sermon 
in his life." 



CHAPTER V. 

The Mohawk River and Watershed — 
History and Topography 

This is the first of five chapters deal- 
ing with the Mohawk river, its valley 
and watershed and with water traffic 
on the Mohawk through its valley. 
This chapter treats of the Mohawk, its 
geological history, its topography and 
geography. The following chapter 
deals with early traffic on the Mo- 
hawk, including the years from 1609 
to 1825. Subsequent ones will treat of 
the Erie canal 1825-1913, the Barge 
canal, and of the geology of the cen- 
tral Mohawk river section, particularly 
that between Fall Hill and the Noses. 
This latter is from the pen of Abram 
Devendorf and forms chapter VII. of 
the third series of these papers. At- 
tention is called to the accompanying 
map which gives a birds-eye view of 
the Mohawk watershed, the names of 
all except the first and second class 
tributaries being omitted for the sake 
of clearness. 

The Mohawk valley forms a most 
important region of the Hudson river 
watershed. As it is the site of the 
eastern section of the Barge canal, the 
water supply of the Mohawk water- 
shed is a subject of the greatest im- 
portance. The valley of the Mohawk 
breaks through the Atlantic states 
mountain system and forms a natural 
road and waterway between tidewater 
and the Great Lakes. Its position in 
this respect is unique and makes it a 
link in a great chain of land and water 
communication, running from the sea 
far into the middle and northwestern 
portions of North America. The Mo- 



172 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 




THE MOHAWK RIVER, ITS VALLEY AND WATERSHED. 

THE NAMES OF ITS FIRST AND SECOND CLASS AFFLUENTS ARE GIVEN TO AID THE READER IN 
LOCATING THE DIFFERENT STREAMS AND REGIONS OF THE WATERSHED. 



hawk river basin takes natural im- 
portance as the seat of the life of the 
Mohawk tribe of the great Iroquois 
confederacy; as a place, in the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries, of 
interesting settlement by Dutch, Ger- 
inan and British; as the scene of vital 
and terrible Revolutionary warfare, 
and as a region of highway, water- 
way, railroad, industrial, town and 
agricultural development. All these 
are treated in separate chapters of 
this work. 

The Mohawk river rises in the south- 
ern part of Lewis county and flows 
about 135 miles to its junction with 
the Hudson at Troy. Its course is in a 
generally easterly direction. The 



stream has two tributaries of the first 
class — the West Canada and Schoharie 
creeks. The West Canada rises in the 
Adirondacks in Herkimer and Hamil- 
ton counties and has a course of about 
sixty miles to its junction with the 
Mohawk at Herkimer. The Schoharie 
rises in Greene county, among the 
Catskills, about seventy miles or more 
to the south of its confluence with the 
Mohawk at Fort Hunter. It was 
through this valley, from the Hudson, 
that the first Palatines came to Pala- 
tine on the Mohawk, settling the Scho- 
harie valley on the way. The Scho- 
harie- valley is a beautiful and im- 
portant region of the Mohawk valley, 
whose history, however, is only con- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



173 



sidered very generally in this publica- 
tion. 

The Oriskany, entering the Mohawk 
at Oriskany, the East Canada creek 
entering at East Creek station and the 
Caroga (also written Garoga) joining 
its parent stream at Palatine Church, 
may be considered second class tribu- 
taries. The Oriskany rises in Madi- 
son county and the East and Caroga 
creeks have their headwaters on the 
edge of the Adirondack region, — the 
East creek in Herkimer, Hamilton and 
in the Canada lakes of Fulton county 
and the Caroga in the lake region of 
Pulton county formed by headwaters 
of East creek just mentioned and its 
own headwaters — the Caroga lakes. 
Peck's Pond and minor ponds. 

A rough classification of the Mo- 
hawk's third class tributaries com- 
prise the following: Nine Mile creek, 
Saquoit, Nowadaga, Otsquago, Cana- 
joharie, Flat creek, Cayadutta, North 
Chuctanunda, South Chuctanunda, 
Alplauskill. The greater part of 
these important tributaries, both of 
the first and second class, enter 
the Mohawk in Montgomery county. 
In the central section of the Mo- 
hawk basin, which is considered 
particularly in these chapters, the 
southern rim of the watershed lies 
much nearer to the river than the 
northern. In the valley country from 
I lion to Fultonville, the southern rim 
lies about fifteen miles or less from 
the river while the northern is from 
two to three times that distance from 
the Mohawk. The Adirondack region 
covers a large part of the northern 
edge of the watershed. The head- 
waters of the Schoharie lie in the Cats- 
kill country. The Mohawk watershed 
was, three hundred years ago, part of 
the great eastern forest, and two- 
thirds of it has been denuded by the 
European colonists. Much of the farm 
lands are fertile — some of them very 
fertile. 

The Oneida lake watershed lies to 
the west of the Mohawk headwaters 
and the Black river valley to the north. 
The Oneida lake waters continue the 
Mohawk waterway westward to Lakes 
Ontario and Erie and the Black river 



forms a water and highway to north- 
ern New York and the St. Lawrence. 
The Mohawk's "parent" valley — the 
Hudson — borders the northeastern and 
eastern sides while the Susquehanna 
bounds the southwestern limit of the 
Mohawk basin. The Delaware head- 
waters lie close to those of the Scho- 
harie. The foregoing gives a gen- 
eral view of the Mohawk and its 
watershed. The following matter 
covers the subject in greater detail. 

The story of the Mohawk river is the 
history of civilization in America. Its 
chronicle is of interest to a great 
region of territory of North America, 
as it is the chief link between the 
Great Lakes and the ocean_ Together 
with Oneida lake and the Oswego 
river, it connects the tidewaters of the 
Hudson with the great inland seas. 
These latter today carry an enormous 
commerce which should find a great 
part of its outlet through the Barge 
canal, which follows the Mohawk river 
in its eastern course. With progress 
in canalization it may be that a canal 
will eventually join the Great Lakes, 
by way of the Lake of the Woods to 
Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis in 
Canada. This would make a territory 
immediately contributory to these 
great waterways of an area equal to 
about one-third of the United States, 
and a much greater region would in- 
directly contribute to its commerce. 
It would extend from New York city 
up the Hudson, through the Mohawk 
river, Oneida lake and Oswego river 
to Lake Ontario, to Lake Erie, through 
Lakes Huron and Superior to the out- 
let of Rainy Lake, through that lake 
and the river of the same name into 
the Lake of the Woods, in Canada, 
and thence into Whitemouth river, 
into Winnipeg river, into Lake Winni- 
peg (tapping the Red River of the 
North running down into theDakotas), 
into Lake Manitoba, into Lake Winni- 
pegosis and there joining the great 
Saskatchewan river, and, by way of 
Lake Winnipeg, reaching many more 
waterways of the Canadian northwest, 
which drain practically that entire 
great granary of North America. This 
waterway would reach, from the sea 



174 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



into the interior, four thousand miles 
and has long been projected. The 
present Great Lakes — Barge canal — 
Mohawk river — Hudson waterway has 
a length of about fifteen hundred 
miles or more, and taps a great 
part of industrial America. This route 
would be impossible without the break, 
in the Eastern States mountain sys- 
tem, through which the Mohawk flows 
from a point very close to the water- 
shed of Lake Ontario to sea level at 
Troy. Thus the history and develop- 
ment of this important link in this 
inland waterway is of interest to peo- 
ple along the whole route, as, without 
the Mohawk, this line of transporta- 
tion would be non-existent. 

The Laurentian hills of Quebec pro- 
vince and the Adirondack region com- 
prise some of the oldest land surfaces 
of the world. Of the latter the Mo- 
hawk valley now forms the greater 
part of the southern border, the hills 
north of the river in Montgomery 
county being the first foothills of the 
Adirondack mountains. When the 
Adirondack region rose from the ocean, 
the southern shore was approximately 
along the northern border of Fulton 
county and many of the streams now 
flowing from the north into the Mo- 
hawk were rushing mountain torrents 
which fell from those barren heights 
into the sea at the shore line men- 
tioned. Some of these were probably 
the West and East Canada and the 
Caroga creeks and some others men- 
tioned later. The Mohawk valley was 
then under the ocean and its rise and 
emergence from the waters of the sea 
came at a later date. 

After this emergence but before the 
"birth" of the Mohawk, this region 
was part of the slope from the Adi- 
rondack mountains to the sea, which 
then flowed along the southern bor- 
ders of New York during the carboni- 
ferous era. Some of the then streams 
of this drainage slope are supposed 
to have been the West Canada creek, 
East Canada creek, Garoga, Cayadutta, 
North Chuctanunda and Sacandaga. 

The Mohawk river dates its geologi- 
cal history from the end of the coal 
period, when occurred the elevation of 



the Appalachian range of mountains. 
This uplift (according to S. L. Frey, 
in his interesting "Story of Our 
River") extended through New York 
state and included Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois and Wisconsin and, in conse- 
quence, the Great Lakes were formed, 
with their drainage outlet probably 
by way of the Illinois river at that 
time. The Cherry Valley hills were 
part of this uplift and in this way the 
Mohawk valley was made between 
that range of low mountains of which 
they are a part and the Adirondack 
highlands. 

Mr Frey says: "At the time of the 
disturbance [raising of the Appala- 
chian range] there had been two im- 
portant uplifts running north and 
south at right angles to the Cherry 
Valley hills. These are called by 
geologists 'the uplifts of the Mohawk,' 
one at the Noses and the other at 
Little Falls. When, therefore, the 
water could no longer flow south, on 
account of the hills, or east, on ac- 
count of the uplifts, it gathered until 
the basins filled, when all to the east 
of Litt'.e Falls discharged over the 
top of the uplift at the Noses, and all, 
to the west of the barrier [Fall Hill] 
at Little Falls ran west and emptied 
into the Great Lakes basin. Thus 
was the Mohawk river formed, a part 
of it running east and a part west. 
This condition, probably prevailed for 
a very long period, the river wearing 
its way into the soft and fissile shale." 
Here we see the eastern of these early 
"lakes of the Mohawk," covering a 
large part of what the Mohawks termed 
Canajoharie and which was later the 
Canajoharie and Palatine districts, 
with which we are dealing in this 
narrative. 

As the ages rolled by, the lowering 
of the temperature in North America 
(attributed to a variety of causes) 
produced the glacial period^ during 
which this part of the continent was 
covered by an ice sheet (5,000 feet 
thick in places) as far south as cen- 
tral New Jersey. The glacier, in its 
southern march, reached the Mohawk 
valley and the river, which then ran 
in a deep channel. Says Mr. Frey: 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



175 



"The ice filled this deep depression, 
and, turning eastward, followed the 
course of the river, grinding and 
grooving and tearing the rocks at the 
sides and bottom. Of course the up- 
lift at Little Falls was greatly lowered; 
but it was at the uplift at the Noses 
that there seems to have been the 
hardest struggle, and the most enor- 
mous amount of grinding and erosion. 
The glacier seems to have been held 
back by the peculiar configuration of 
the hills, at a point just west of 
Sprakers Basin. The result was the 
scooping out of a deep trough in the 
rock, beginning at Gros's rift. This 
grew deeper as it goes east, the sides 
of the excavation slope up to the 
banks and cliffs on each side, and the 
rock is now buried under deposits of 
soil and sand, of gravel, boulders and 
hardpan. The village of Canajoharie 
(that is the business part of it) stands 
on a deposit of this character fifty feet 
in depth. As we go eastward the ex- 
cavation in the rock grows deeper and 
deeper and the steep hills seem to sur- 
round a great basin and to close the 
valley. * * * -pj^g ^gg Qf jgg lasted 
long, but it came to an end at last. 
As the climate grew warm again the 
ice melted and great floods poured 
out at the foot of the glacier and, held 
by the high ridge at the south and by 
the ice wall at the north, gathered 
into great lakes. The most northern 
one, which has been called Lake Agas- 
siz, was where the Red River of the 
North is and was 600 miles long. The 
other, called Lake Iroquois, occupied 
the Great Lakes basin. It is probable 
that the former discharged into the 
latter and the outlet, as long as the 
glacier blocked the St. Lawrence, was 
by way of the Mohawk valley [to the 
Hudson valley and the ocean], al- 
though there may have been one or 
two other outlets toward the south- 
west. But the most of it ran east to 
the Hudson and was our river on an 
immense scale. [Here we have the 
original Great Lakes to the sea water- 
way through the Mohawk valley.] 
* * * This great flow of water fin- 
ished the work of the glacier, made 
the rounded hills that we see; and the 



worn, rocky cliffs, finished the cutting 
of a channel through the uplifts at 
Little Falls and the Noses, and made 
an easy grade for canals and rail- 
roads and boulevards." With the con- 
tinual gradual recession of the ice 
sheet to the north, the waters of the 
Great Lakes made their outlet to the 
sea through the St. Lawrence river. 
The Mohawk then drained only its 
own watershed and shrank to its pres- 
ent course. When the forest was here 
it probably carried a larger volume of 
water than at present, with its water- 
shed largely denuded. 

The total area of the actual Mohawk 
valley watershed is 3,485 square miles, 
which is roughly 8 per cent or about 
one-fourteenth of the state's area. 

This Mohawk drainage territory is 
comprised in the following counties 
with a very rough estimate of the 
number of acres in each drained by 
the Mohawk and its tributaries: 
Lewis, 20,000; Oneida, 500,000; Madi- 
son, 5,000; Herkimer, 500,000; Hamil- 
ton, 150,000; Montgomery 250,000; Ot- 
sego, 5,000; Fulton, 225,000; Schoharie, 
400,000; Delaware, 5,000; Greene 
(headwaters of Schoharie river), 150,- 
000; Albany, 30,000; Saratoga, 30,000. 
This makes thirteen of the state's 
sixty-one counties, some part of which 
forms a portion of the Mohawk water- 
shed. Of these thirteen counties, 
Montgomery is the only one whose ter- 
ritory is entirely within the limits of 
the Mohawk river drainage system. 

The western part of Oneida county 
is drained by the Oneida lake water- 
shed, while the extreme southern sec- 
tion belongs to the Susquehanna val- 
ley, and the extreme northeastern lies 
in the Black river watershed. The 
upper portion of Herkimer county (in 
the Adirondack forest section) is 
drained by the Black river, and the 
extreme south lies in the Susquehanna 
valley. The eastern part of Fulton 
county belongs to the upper Hudson 
system, being watered by the Sacan- 
daga and its tributaries. The south- 
ern part of Schenectady county drains 
into the Hudson and a small portion 
of western Schoharie county is in the 
Susciuehanna valley. 



176 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



The Mohawk drains a country of 
high rolling hills, rising into mountains 
on several of its divides from other 
adjoining basins. In the central Mo- 
hawk region, which is the one under 
consideration in this work, the edges 
of the watershed rise to summits of 
over 2,500 feet on the north and south 
margins. The divide which separates 
the Big Sprite (branch of the East 
creek) and the headwaters of the 
Caroga from the .Sacandaga valley, has 
summits of the following elevations: 
In the town of Bleecker, Fulton county, 
Pigeon Mt. 2,700, Pinnacle 2,514, Shaker 
Mt. 2,500; in the town of Caroga, Ful- 
ton county, adjoining Canada lakes, 
Pine Mt. 2,200, Camelhump 2,278 and 
2,265, Sheeley Mt. 2,120; in the town 
of Stratford, Fulton county, West 
Rooster Hill, 2,240. Hills of from five to 
over eight hundred feet elevation rise 
from the Mohawk flats themselves. In 
western Montgomery county, the high- 
est of these is Getman Hill (sea eleva- 
tion, 1,140 feet and 838 feet above the 
Mohawk). This summit is almost in 
the point where the town lines of St. 
Johnsville, Ephratah and Oppenheim 
join and is part of the ridge 1hat oc- 
cupies the northern horizon as seen 
from old and new Fort Plain. Prob- 
ably the highest hill rising directly 
from the Mohawk river flats is Yan- 
tapuchaberg, on the south side of the 
river between Amsterdam and Sche- 
nectady. This mountain has a sea 
elevation of 1,385 feet and rises about 
1,150 feet above the Mohawk. Old 
Yantapuchaberg is one of the most 
beautiful hills in the Mohawk valley, 
or anywhere else, with its wooded 
slopes rising to a forest crested sum- 
mit. It is an object of the traveler's 
interest on the Central railroad op- 
posite. Summits, equal in height to 
those in the Fulton county lake region 
rise in the Cherry Valley. hills on the 
central southern rim of the water- 
shed. 

The Mohawk river bed falls from a 
sea elevation of 420 feet at Rome to 
184 feet at Crescent in Saratoga 
county. From there the river drops, 
by Cohoes falls and rapids, to sea level 
at Troy. In Montgomery county the 



river elevations vary from 302 feet at 
St. Johnsville and Fort Plain to 255 
feet at Amsterdam. The Mohawk, for 
over sixty years prior to 1913 was 
paralleled by canals the greater part of 
its length. Black River canal follows the 
course of the east upper head branch 
of the Mohawk and the main stream 
from near Boonville to Rome, a dis- 
tance of over tw-enty miles, and from 
Rome to Cohoes the Erie canal follows 
the river for over 100 miles. The 
Barge canal largely follows the Mo- 
hawk's course from Rome to Cohoes. 

It must be remembered that the 
name Mohawk valley applies to the 
entire watershed of this important 
river — to the headwaters of the Scho- 
harie in the Catskills and the lake 
sources of the West Canada, East 
Canada and Caroga creeks in the 
Adirondacks just as much as to the 
Mohawk itself, along which main 
stream, the greater part of the popu- 
lation of the Mohawk basin is located 
and where the major items of human 
life and activity have had their scene 
and enactment. 

The lakes of the Mohawk basin are 
confined to the north central rim of 
the watershed and to the headwaters 
of the West Canada, East Canada and 
Caroga creeks. The majority of these 
lakes and ponds lie in northern Fulton 
county and include the Canada and 
Caroga lakes and Peck's pond and its 
tributary lakes or ponds. Two small 
lakes or ponds, one at the headwaters 
of Oriskany creek and the other at the 
source of the South Chuctanunda are 
the only ponds of a size worthy of 
mention on the south side of the Mo- 
hawk watershed. Honnedaga Lake, 
one of the headwater lakes of the 
West Canada, is the largest and Can- 
ada, Caroga, Peck and Jerseyfield 
lakes are of the second class and about 
the same area. According to the maps, 
Honnedaga lake is about four miles 
long and a mile wide. Canada lake 
is about two miles long and a half 
mile wide. The Barge canal reser- 
voirs, Hinckley and Delta, are the 
largest lakes in the Mohawk watershed 
although they are, of course, artificial. 



TPIE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



177 



Under the heading "A brief topogra- 
phy of the Mohawk valley," Simms 
writes as follows: "The Mohawk river 
rises in Lewis county, about 20 miles 
to the northward of Rome, [near a 
place called Mohawk Hill] arriving at 
which place it takes an easterly course, 
and, at a distance of about 135 miles 
from its source, enters the Hudson 
between Troy and Waterford. Its 
source is near Black river, which, 
running northwesterly, empties into 
Lake Ontario. Wood creek also 
rises northwesterly from Rome and, 
at a point two miles distant from 
the bend of the Mohawk, [the 
old carrying place between Wood 
creek and the Mohawk] it finds 
a westerly course into Oneida 
lake, which discharges into Oswego 
river and runs into Lake Ontario at 
Oswego. The Mohawk has two prom- 
inent cascades to interrupt its navi- 
gation — the Cohoes Falls, not far from 
its mouth with 70 feet fall, requiring 
six deep locks on the Erie canal to 
overcome the ascent, and the Little 
Falls [also called Canajoharie Falls in 
the early days], so called as compared 
with the Cohoes, having a fall of 42 
feet, the canal descending 40 feet in a 
single mile by five locks, averaging 
about eight feet lift. The mountain 
barrier at this point through which 
the water furrowed its way in the 
long ago, affords some of the most ro- 
mantic scenery in Central New York. 
The river in its course through One- 
ida, Herkimer, Montgomery and Sche- 
nectady counties, passes through some 
of the richest bottom lands or river 
flats to be found in any country. 

"For nearly two centuries the Mo- 
hawk was navigated above Schenec- 
tady by small water craft, mostly bat- 
teaux, [flatboats] around which danced 
the red man's canoe; but it was al- 
ways interrupted by the Little Falls, 
some 58 miles above, which necessi- 
tated a carrying place of a mile; and, 
at a later period, when the waters of 
Wood creek and Oneida lake were 
utilized, a carrying place of two miles 
was established between that creek 
and the Mohawk, so that boats from 
Schenectady went to Oswego and 



back, at first to convey Indian goods 
and military stores. For the benefit 
of young readers I may say that, at 
carrying places, both cargo and boat 
had to be taken from the water and 
conveyed around the obstruction by 
land — usually by teams and extra 
hands, quite constantly employed — -of 
course, to be relaunched and reloaded 
to pursue its onward course. 

"After the Revolution which had 
familiarized the whole country with 
the rich lands of western New York, 
from which the Indians had mostly 
been driven by their sympathy with 
Britain, many citizens from New Eng- 
land — not a few of whom had been sol- 
diers — removed thither, especially to 
Ontario county. * * * Some of these 
settlers moved up the Mohawk valley 
with ox-teams and covered wagor.s, 
while others journeyed in boats from 
Schenectady, their cattle being driven 
along the river roads. Parties by 
water were often composed of several 
families, to aid each other at the carry- 
ing places, as also to guard against 
any and every danger. The valley 
soon became a thoroughfare for thous- 
ands passing through it, and the travel 
has gone on increasing, with improved 
facilities, until millions by rail are 
now speeding along, where thousands 
sought their way by river craft and 
private conveyances or, a little later, 
by canal craft and stages. The world, 
at times, now seems hurrying to and 
fro through the valley. 

"The Mohawk valley is not only 
wonderfully beautified but its fertility 
is greatly increased by the numerous 
tributaries, large and small, entering 
the river upon both shores, which af- 
ford advantageous mill-sites for hun- 
dreds of mills and manufactories, em- 
ploying the labor of many thousands 
of operatives." 

Regarding Wood creek, which was 
formerly connected by a canal with the 
Mohawk at Rome, Spafford wrote in 
1824, as follows: "Wood creek of the 
Oneida lake, long so famous for its 
navigation, on which millions of prop- 
erty have been wafted and large 
armies^a little stream over which a 
man may almost step — deserves notice 



178 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



for its historic importance in days 
of yore, the rather as it now is lost 
sight of and will soon be forgotten, 
merged in the glories of the Erie 
canal." 

Simms gives a list of the tributaries 
of the Mohawk of which the following 
are the principal, with the points at 
which they enter the river. Com- 
mencing at Rome, on the south side of 
the Mohawk, descending the valley are 
the following: Oriskany at Oriskany; 
Saquoit, near Whitesboro; Furnace 
creek at Frankfort; Steele's creek at 
Ilion; Nowadaga (also called Inchu- 
nando, Conowadaga) at Indian Castle; 
Otsquago at Fort Plain; Canajoharie 
at Canajoharie; Plattekill or Flat 
creek at Sprakers; Wasontha (Yates- 
ville) at Randall; Oghrackie or Aries- 
kill at Auriesville; Schoharie river at 
Fort Hunter; Tuechtanonda, or Little 
Chuctanunda or South Chuctanunda 
at Amsterdam (south side) ; Cowilla, 
opposite Cranesville; Zantzee, near 
Hoffman's Ferry; Plotterkill, a little 
distance below; Bennekill, just above 
Schenectady; Donker's Kill between 
Schenectady and the mouth of the 
Mohawk. 

Beginning on the north side and go- 
ing down the river from Rome are the 
following tributary streams: No. 6, 
Mile creek, two and a half miles from 
Rome; No. 9 Mile creek, seven miles 
from Rome; Rasceloth or Sterling 
creek in the town of Schuyler; Teugh- 
taghnarow or West Canada creek, be- 
low Herkimer; Ciohana or East Can- 
ada creek at East Creek (called also 
Gayohara) ; Crum Creek; Fox's creek, 
[or Timmermans creek] at Upper St. 
Johnsville; Zimmerman's creek at St. 
Johnsville; Mother creek, between St. 
Johnsville and Palatine Church; Car- 
oga at Palatine Church; Kanagara [or 
Knayderack] at the county home 
[Schenck's]; Cayadutta at Fonda; 
Dadanoscara at DeGraff's; Kayaderos- 
seros at Fort Johnson; Chuctanunda, 
or North Chuctanunda, at Amsterdam; 
Eva's Kill at Cranesville; Lewis Kill 
and Vertkill, above Schenectady; Al- 
plauskill and Anthonykill, between 
Schenectady and Troy. 

The foregoing treats of the geologi- 



cal history and topography of the Mo- 
hawk and its valley. The following 
chapter tells of early navigation on the 
river, which formed such an important 
feature of life along the Mohawk dur- 
ing the two centuries from 1609 to 1825. 



CHAPTER VI. 

1609-1795 — Traffic and Travel on the 
Mohawk River — Canoes, Dugouts, 
Skiffs, Batteaux — Carries at Little 
Falls and Wood Creek— 1792, Inland 
Lock Navigation Co. — 1795, Canals 
and Locks at Little Fails, German 
Flats and Rome — Schenectady and 
Durham Boats and River Packets — 
1821-1825, Mohawk Part of Eriie 
Canal System — 1825, Erie Canal Su- 
persedes River as Valley Waterway. 

This is the second chapter dealing 
with the Mohawk river. It is also the 
first chapter dealing with transporta- 
tion and commerce along that stream, 
either by land or water. This chapter, 
concerning Mohawk river traffic from 
1609 to 1825, is to be followed by others 
treating of bridges, turnpikes, Erie 
canal, railroads. Barge canal, etc., 
making in all seven or eight sketches 
on this subject. Even Atwood's aero- 
plane journey over the course of the 
Mohawk might fittingly be included in 
this chronicle of three centuries of 
traffic and travel through the valley. 
Persons interested in this subject sep- 
arately can follow the story in the 
chapters aforementioned as they are 
published in their chronological order, 
just as the same procedure may be 
carried out in the consideration of the 
chapters dealing with the Mohawk 
river, as suggested in the last chap- 
ter. Agriculture, manufacturing and 
transportation are said to form a tri- 
angle comprising the business life of a 
country or region. The following 
opens up the interesting subject of 
transportation in the Mohawk valley 
during three centuries. 

The first settlers of New York in the 
Hudson valley adopted water trans- 
portation as the forests were gener- 
ally impassable, except over the In- 
dian trails. Travel by water or on 
foot were the first methods used in 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



179 



the Mohawk valley. The history of 
transportation along the Moha,wk may 
be epitomized in the following meth- 
ods of freight and passenger carriage: 
Man carriage, canoe, dugout, skiff, 
flatboat, raft, skates, snowshoes, sad- 
dle-horse, pack-horse, oxcart, sled, 
chaise, coach, sulky, wagon, covered 
big (Conestoga) wagon, stage coach, 
large river boat, buggy, canal boat, 
canal packet boat, railroad coach, rail- 
road freight car, steam tug, horse car, 
steam launch, steam yacht, bicycle, 
electric trolley car, automobile, motor 
bus, motor truck, motor cycle, motor 
boat, motor tug, aeroplane, canal 
barge. 

Mohawk river traffic may be briefly 
summarized as follows: The Mohawk 
Indians, living on the river shores and 
frequently changing their habitations 
from the south to the north side and 
back again, used bark canoes and dug- 
outs to traverse the river. These were, 
doubtless also used by the first white 
explorers and traders. After Schenec- 
tady was settled, in the lower Mo- 
hawk valley in 1661, probably the fiat- 
bottomed "scow skiff," propelled by 
oars, made its appearance. From this 
was evolved the larger fiat or fiatboat 
or batteau, propelled by oars, poles and 
sails. These boats were in use by 
traders, settlers and soldiers to carry 
goods, farm produce and war material 
until after the Revolution. They car- 
ried from one to two tons, their size 
being determined by the fact that they 
had to make two land carries on the 
river trip. The Inland Lock Naviga- 
tion Co. was formed in 1792 and the 
))uilding of locks and canals, at Little 
Falls, German Flats and Rome in 1795 
made larger boats possible. The Dur- 
ham and Schenectady boats of ten 
tons burden, made their appearance, 
poles and sails being the propelling 
forces employed by the Mohawk sail- 
ors of a century ago. The smaller 
batteaux also continued in use. From 
1795 to 1825 the river was a lively line 
of traffic, even passenger packets be- 
ing in use. From 1821-1825 the Mo- 
hawk was utilized as a part of the 
Erie canal system and when the canal 
had been dug from Rome to Little 



Falls, the canal boats entered the river 
at the latter place and continued their 
journey to Schenectady on the Mo- 
hawk. Later when the canal was fin- 
ished from Rome to Sprakers boats 
left the canal near the Noses and con- 
tinued on by the river to their desti- 
nation at Schenectady. In 1826 Erie 
navigation began and the Mohawk 
ceased to be used as a trade route. 
Many of the river boatmen and some 
of their craft, however, continued their 
work on the new canal, which eclipsed 
the river until these latter days of the 
Barge canal. 



From the days of the Mohawk canoes 
and dugouts and those of the first 
Indian traders, the river was the 
artery of trade between the east and 
the far west. From Albany to Schen- 
ectady was a portage and also around 
the Cohoes falls. From these points 
the boats called batteaux or fiatboats 
soon came into use by the white set- 
tlers and traders. The river was fol- 
lowed to Little Falls where there was 
another carry by land around the 
rapids, although these were sometimes 
shot by venturesome boatmen on the 
down trip when the river was swollen. 
At Wood creek was a third carry from 
the Mohawk. Canals were built at 
Little Falls and Wood Creek in 1795. 

Before this at Little Falls sleds and 
wagons were used to carry the 
batteaux around the portage. These 
batteaux were flat-bottomed scows 
of sufficient dimensions to carry 
several tons and were propelled by 
setting poles which were kept for sale 
at convenient points along the river. 
With backs to the prow the batteaux 
men thrust the poles to the river's bed 
and, bearing hard upon them and 
walking aft, laboriously pushed the 
boat against the current. A sort of 
harmony of movement was secured by 
the captains by the cries, "Bowsmen 
up!" and "Second men up!" Steering 
was done with a tiller oar. Such was 
the mode of transporting merchandise 
and Indian commodities to and from 
the west for nearly two centuries; 
and such, too, the method of transport- 



180 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



ing munitions of war during the Rev- 
olution. Much of the material used in 
building defens'='s like Fort Plain was 
brought up this way and convoying 
batteaux flotilla containing war sup- 
plies was frequently part of the duties 
of the militia and regulars located here 
and in surrounding districts. Revolu- 
tionary captains in the batteaux ser- 
vice were in 1832 made entitled to the 
same pensions as captains in the Con- 
tinental army. 

Small batteaux, known in those times 
as three-handed and four-handed 
boats, were in early use on the Mohawk. 
They were so called because three or 
four men were required to propel and 
care for them. Passing the carry at 
Little Falls in early days, the boats 
proceeded to Fort Stanwix where the 
carry was made to Wood creek, whence 
they floated into and through Oneida 
lake and the Oswego river to Oswego 
where they entered Lake Ontario. 
From Oswego to Niagara, then a place 
of much importance, merchandise was 
transported in the same boats or 
aboard sloops. This was the water 
route to the west until the completion 
of the Erie canal in 1825. 

The earliest boatmen were troubled 
by the Indians who look toll for the 
navigation of the river and who were 
particularly threatening and rapac- 
ious at the Wood creek carry. The 
rifts in the river offered a serious 
menace to this form of transportation 
and wrecks and drownings were not 
infrequent. On the down trip the 
flood times were welcomed as over- 
coming this trouble and this must 
have been a favorite time for making 
the journey east. On the up trip over 
the rifts the polemen were assisted by 
men on shore with ropes. Rude sails 
were also used during favoring winds 
and sails, oars and poles were the 
three methods of propelling the white 
man's boats on the Mohawk for two 
centuries. 

It was not until 1800 that the turn- 
pikes were improved sufficiently to 
compete with the Mohawk in matters 
of transportation, and the river, at the 
Revolutionary period, was the main 
artery of traffic and remained so for 



some time. Schenectady then was a 
lively river port and important town 
to the Mohawk valley people. 

The first rift or rapids, above Sche- 
nectady, was met with, at a distance 
of six miles, and was called Six Flats 
Rift. Proceeding west in order came 
Fort Hunter rift, Caughnawaga rift at 
Fultonville, Keator's rift at Sprakers, 
the greatest in the river, having a fall 
of ten feet in a few rods; Brandy wine 
rift at Canajoharie, short but rapid; 
Ehle's rift, near Fort Plain; Kneis- 
kern's rift, a small rapid near the up- 
per Indian Castle and a little above 
the river dam; the Little Falls, so 
called in contradistinction to the great 
Falls at Cohoes; Wolf's rift, five miles 
above the falls. 

At Fort Plain, a bend in the river 
opposite the house of Peter Ehle from 
whom the rift took its name was 
known as Ehle's crank; and opposite 
the residence of Nicholas Gros, a little 
below, another turn in the river was 
called Gros's crank. 

At the Little Falls, a descent of 40 
feet in half a mile, boats could not be 
forced up the current and it became a 
carrying place for them and merchan- 
dise, which were transported around 
the rapids, usually on the north shore, 
at first on sleds and later on wagons 
with small wide rimmed wheels. 
The water craft were then re- 
launched and reloaded and proceeded 
on their western journey. On such oc- 
casions, one of the party usually stay- 
ed with the goods deposited above 
while the team returned for the boat. 

The difficulties of forcing the boats 
over the rifts of the Mohawk increased 
with their size. As many as twenty 
men, pulling with ropes on the bank 
and pushing with poles on the boat, 
were sometimes unable to propel a 
single boat over Keator's rift. Black 
slaves, owned by settlers near the 
rapids, were frequently employed in 
this occupation. 

An early traveler writes as follows of 
this waterway: "The Oniada Lake, 
situated near the head of the River 
Oswego, receives the waters of Wood 
Creek, which takes its rise not far 
from the Mohawk River. These two 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



181 



lie so adjacent to each other that a 
junction is effected by sluices at Fort 
Stanwix. * * * * j^ere [Little Falls] 
the roaring rapids interrupted all nav- 
igation, empty boats not even being 
able to pass over them. The early 
portage, of one mile here in sleds over 
the swampy ground, has been describ- 
ed as it was in 1756, when enterprising 
Teutons residing here transferred all 
boats in sleds over marshy ground 
which 'would admit of no wheel car- 
riage.' * * * Later on, about 1790, 
we find that the Germans' sleds were 
out of use and that boats were trans- 
ferred on wheeled vehicles appropri- 
ately fashioned to carry them without 
damage to their hulls. No great boats 
could be transferred by such means; 
this fact had a tendency to limit the 
carrying capacity of Mohawk batteaus 
to about one and a half tons." Johan 
Jost Herkimer, father of Nicholas Her- 
kimer, was a pioneer in this carrying 
business at "The Falls" and here laid 
the foundation of a considerable for- 
tune. 

Washington mentions the advantages 
of the Mohawk valley waterway and 
after the Revolution efforts were made 
to improve it and many plans were 
put forward, some bearing a rude re- 
semblance to the present barge canal 
dams. To this end the Inland Lock 
Navigation company was incorporated 
March 30, 1792, Gen. Philip Schuyler 
being elected its president. Locks and 
canals were built at Little Falls, at 
-Wolfs Rift at German Flats, and at 
Rome, connecting with Wood Creek. 
These canals were constructed about 
1795, prior to which time there were 
carries at Little Falls and Wood Creek. 
These river locks and canals continued 
in use until 1825, the year of the open- 
ing of the Erie canal. 

After the river improvements were 
made the Durham boat was substituted 
for the unwieldly batteaux. The Dur- 
ham boat was of ten or fifteen tons 
capacity and had sharpened bows. 
Cleats were along the sides to give the 
polemen's feet better purchase and a 
small caboose was the crew's store- 
house and the cooking was done on 
shore, where fuel was plenty. It is 



related that one of these boats left 
Utica in the morning and reached 
Schenectady on the evening of the 
same day, which was considered a 
record trip. The expense of transpor- 
tation from Albany to Schenectady 
was 16 cents per 100 pounds. From 
Schenectady to Utica, 75 cents and 
from Utica to Oswego $1.25, making a 
through rate of $2.16 per 100 pounds. 
This would give $43.20 per ton as the 
freight rate between Schenectady and 
Oswego, less than 200 miles. In 1913 
the rate per ton by lake boats from 
Buffalo to Duluth, about 700 miles, 
was 39 cents. 

The river improvements and cost of 
transportation made the enterprise un- 
profitable and the company sold out 
to the state in 1820. With the build- 
ing of the Erie canal the traffic boat- 
men disappeared from the Mohawk. It 
is probable that at Fort Plain was a 
landing for batteaux, during the life- 
time of the post, and afterward for the 
larger boats. Possibly the Otsquago 
was here deep where it traversed the 
level flatland for a half mile and bat- 
teaux may have been able to pene- 
trate its still waters up to the Clarke 
house and Paris store. 

Along the river road, near some of 
the rapids, were public houses, a good 
share of whose custom came from the 
boatmen. As near these' runs as pos- 
sible, boats often tied up for the night 
and here a lot of old Mohawk sailors 
had jolly times. Jost Spraker's tav- 
ern, at Keator's rift, was one of those. 
Another riverman's favorite tavern 
was the old Isaac Weatherby house at 
Brandywine rift, situated a mile below 
Palatine Bridge, and below the junc- 
tion of the Oswegatchie and the river 
roads. 

Accidents, drownings and wrecks 
were many. Two which occurred near 
Fort Plain, shortlj^ before the Erie 
was opened, are described by Simms 
as follows: "Ezra Copley in 1823 ran 
a Durham boat on a rock in Ehle's rift, 
below the Fort Plain bridge. It was 
loaded with wheat in bulk, was stove 
and filled with water. The wheat was 
taken to Ehle's barn and dried, the 
boat was repaired, reloaded and went 



182 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



on its destination. One of the best 
of this class of craft, known as the 
'Butterfly,' was descending the river, 
swollen by floods, when the steersman 
lost control of it and it struck broad- 
side on one of the stone piers of the 
Canajoharie bridge and broke near the 
centre. The contents of the boat lit- 
erally filled the river for some distance 
and three hands were drowned. The 
body of one, named Clark, was recov- 
ered twelve miles below at Pulton- 
ville. The steersman retained his hold 
on the long tiller (some 20 feet long) 
and reached shore about a quarter 
mile below the bridge. Most of the 
flour on the boat was saved along the 
river. The owner of the craft, a man 
named Meyers, had the boat's frag- 
ments taken to Schenectady and re- 
built. After this it was taken through 
the newly completed Erie canal to 
Cayuga lake. Here, while making a 
trip loaded with gypsum, it sank and 
its owner was drowned. Thus ended 
the unfortunate 'Butterfly,' one of the 
last of the freight craft that sailed the 
Mohawk." Many of the river boats 
probably found early use on the Erie 
canal, after 1825. In the last few 
years (1821-1825) of canal construc- 
tion the Mohawk was used in connec- 
tion with the completed portions of 
the Erie canal for the transportation 
of canal boats from the west to Sche- 
nectady and vice versa, notably from 
Little Falls and later from Sprakers, 
to Schenectady. 

Several large rowboats, constructed 
especially to carry twenty passengers 
each, from Utica to Schenectady, and 
tastefully curtained, were in use on 
the Mohawk at about 1800. They were 
called river packets. 

Christian Schultz, who journeyed 
on the river in 1807, spoke of there be- 
ing three kinds of boats on the Mo- 
hawk — the Schenectady boats being 
preferred, which carried about ten 
tons when the river would permit. He 
said they usually progressed 18 to 25 
miles per day up the stream by sails 
and poles. These boats, modeled much 
like the Long Island round-bottomed 
skiffs, were 40 to 50 feet in length and 
were steered by a large swing oar of 



the same length. When the wind 
favored they set a square sail and a 
top sail. He was informed that one 
"galley," the "Mohawk Register," had 
gone at the rate of six miles an hour 
against the stream and he adds: 
"During this time, believe me, nothing 
could be more charming than sailing 
on the Mohawk." They did not often 
have a favorable wind and the curves 
in the river rendered the course of a 
boat irregular and the use of sails pre- 
carious, on which account their chief 
dependence was upon their pike poles, 
which it required much experience to 
use to advantage. 

Of the poles and the manner of 
using them on the river boats, Mr. 
Schultz gives the following account: 
"These poles are from 18 to 22 feet in 
length, having a sharp pointed iron 
with a socket weighing 10 to 12 pounds 
affixed to the lower end; the upper has 
a large knob called a button mounted 
upon it, so that the poleman may 
press upon it with his whole weight 
without endangering his person. This 
manner of impelling the boat forward 
is extremely laborious, and none but 
those who have been some time ac- 
customed to it, can manage these poles 
with any kind of advantage. Within 
the boat on each side is fixed a plank 
running fore and aft with a number of 
cleats nailed upon it, for the purpose 
of giving the poleman sure footing 
and hard poling. The men, after set- 
ting the poles against the rock, bank 
or bottom of the river, declining their 
heads very low, place the upper end 
or button against the back part of 
their shoulder, then falling on their 
hands and toes creep the whole length 
of the gang boards and send the boat 
forward at considerable speed. The 
first sight of four men on each side of 
the boat, creeping along on their 
hands and toes, apparently transfixed 
by a huge pole, is no small curiosity; 
nor was it until I perceived their per- 
severance for 200 or 300 yards, that I 
became satisfied they were not play- 
ing some pranks. 

"From the general practise of this 
method, as likewise from my own trials 
and observations, I am convinced that 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



183 



they have fallen upon the most pow- 
erful way possible to exert their bod- 
ily strength for the purpose required. 
The position, however, was so ex- 
tremely awkward to me, that I doubt 
whether the description I have given 
will adequately describe the proced- 
ure. I have met with another kind of 
boat on the river, which is called a 
dorm or dorem; how it is spelled I 
know not. [This was the Durham 
boat and the third boat to which he 
alludes was the batteau, propelled by 
oars.] The only difference I could ob- 
serve in this [the Durham] from the 
former one, is that it is built sharp on 
both ends, and generally much larger 
and stouter. They likewise have flats 
[scows] similar to those seen on the 
Susquehanna, but much lighter built 
and larger. On all these they occa- 
sionally carry the sails before men- 
tioned. 

"The Mohawk is by no means dan- 
gerous to ascend, on account of the 
slowness of the boat's progress; but 
as it is full of rocks, stones and shal- 
lows, there is some risk of staving the 
boat and, at this season [probably 
midsummer], is so low as to require 
the boat to be dragged over many 
places. The channel, in some in- 
stances, is not more than eight feet in 
width [the boats were long and nar- 
row], which will barely permit a boat 
to pass by rubbing on both sides. This 
is sometimes caused by natural or ac- 
cidental obstructions of rocks in the 
channel, but oftener by artificial 
means. This, which at first view would 
appear to be an inconvenience, is pro- 
duced by two lines or ridges of stone, 
generally constructed on sandy, grav- 
elly or stony shallows, in such manner 
as to form an acute angle where they 
meet, the extremities of which widen 
as they extend up the river, while at 
the lower end there is just space 
enough left to admit the passage of a 
boat. The water being thus collected 
at the widest part of these ridges, and 
continually pent up within narrower 
limits as it descends, causes a rise at 
the passage; so that where th« depth 
was no more than eight inches before, 
a contrivance of this kind will raise 



it to twelve; and strange as it may 
appear, a boat drawing fifteen inches 
will pass through it with safety and 
ease. The cause is simply this: The 
boat, being somewhat below the pas- 
sage, its resistance to the current is 
such as to cause a swell of four or five 
inches more, which affords it an easy 
passage over the shoal." 

The reader must remember that at 
this time, the waters of the Erie then 
having their channel in the Mohawk, 
the river was of considerable more 
volume than it was after the building 
of the canal. 

This writer says that the Mohawk 
might be considered 100 yards in width 
with extremely fertile banks. He 
speaks of passing through eight locks 
at Little Falls, whereas two of these 
were at Wolf's rift, several miles above. 
He said the Mohawk afforded very 
poor fishing, since at the end of nine 
days he had only caught a "poor cat 
fish, no longer than a herring." He 
visited Utica, which then had 160 
houses, and Whitestown. 

Of Rome he says: "Rome * * * 
is near the head of the Mohawk. The 
entrance into this village is through a 
handsome canal about a mile in 
length. It is here that the Mohawk is 
made to contribute a part of its stream 
towards filling Wood creek, which of 
itself is so low in dry seasons as to be 
totally insufficient to float a boat Math- 
out the • aid of the Mohawk. Rome, 
formerly known as Fort Stanwix, is 
delightfully situated in an elevated and 
level country commanding an exten- 
sive view for miles around. This vil- 
lage consists of about 80 houses, but it 
seems quite destitute of every kind of 
trade, and rather upon the decline. 
The only spirit which I perceived 
stirring among them wa^ that of 
money digging, and the old fort be- 
trayed evident signs of the prevalence 
of this mania, as it had literally been 
turned inside out for the purpose of 
discovering concealed treasures." 

In descending Wood creek he passed 
through a range of five canal locks. 
He spoke of the rate of toll as being 
too high. He said the toll, in passing 
the eight locks at Little Falls, was 



184 



THP] STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



$2.25 per ton of merchandise, and the 
toll on the boat was from $1.50 to 
$2.62% each boat. The toll was at a 
still higher rate to pass through the 
Wood creek locks, being $3.00 per ton 
on the goods and from $1.50 to $3.50 
on the boats. 

In 1807, at the time of Mr. Schultz's 
trip up the Mohawk, he passed the fol- 
lowing towns to which is added a 
rough estimate of their population at 
that time: Schenectady, several thou- 
sand; Amsterdam, 150; Caughnawaga 
(Fonda), 200; Canajoharie, 200; Fort 
Plain, 200; Little Falls, 300; Herki- 
mer, 300; Utica, 1,200; Whitestown; 
Rome, 500. Johnstown, only three 
miles from the Mohawk, had prob- 
ably 600 and was the third town in 
importance in the valley. Montgom- 
ery county, in 1807 and up to 1817, ex- 
tended westward from the Schenec- 
tady county line to Fall Hill. Schen- 
ectady was the most important town 
in the state west of Albany in 1807. 

The Rev. Mr. Taylor, previously al- 
luded to, gives an interesting account 
of the Little Falls locks and the Little 
Falls country itself in 1802: "Passing 
on from Manheim, we found the moun- 
tains drawing to a point upon two 
sides of the river. When we come to 
the river there is only a narrow pass 
for about three-fourths of a mile be- 
tween the river and the foot of the 
rocks. When we come to the Falls 
the scene which it presents is sublime. 
We now enter Herkimer county — a 
small village of the town of Herkimer, 
called Little Falls, by which the canals 
pass, which were constructed in [17]95. 
The length of the canal is three- 
fourths of a mile. There are six locks. 
The appearance of the falls is sub- 
lime. The village is built upon a ledge 
of rocks. It promises fair to be a 
place of business as to trade, as all 
produce of the Royal grants will nat- 
urally be brought here to be shipped. 
They have a new and beautiful meet- 
ing house, standing about 40 rods back 
on the hill, built in the form of an oc- 
tagon. I am now, July 27 [1802], about 
30 rods from fall mountain on the 
south. Between this and the moun- 
tain is the Mohawk, and a bridge over 



it, in length about 16 rods. Between 
this and the bridge is the canal. On 
the right about 40 rods are the falls, 
or one bar of the falls in full view. 
The falls extend about three-fourths 
of a mile. Upon the whole, the place 
is the most romantic of any I ever 
saw; and the objects are such as to 
excite sublime ideas in a reflecting 
mind. From the appearance of the 
rocks, and fragments of rocks where 
the town is built, it is, I think, dem- 
onstratably evident that the waters of 
the Mohawk, in passing over the fall, 
were 80 or 90 feet higher, in some 
early period, than they are now. The 
rocks, even a hundred feet perpendic- 
ular above the present high water 
mark, are worn in the same manner as 
those over which the river passes. The 
rocks are not only worn b5^ the descent 
of the water, but in the flat rocks are 
many round holes, worn by the whirl- 
ing of stones — some even 5 feet and 20 
inches over. If these effects were pro- 
duced by the water, as I have no doubt 
they were, then it follows as a neces- 
sary consequence, that the flats above 
and all the lowlands for a consider- 
able extent of the country, were cov- 
ered with water, and that here was a 
lake — but the water, having lowered, 
its bed, laid the lands above dry." 

In regard to the foregoing specu- 
lations of the Rev. John Taylor the 
following from the Fort Plain Stand- 
ard of August 1, 1912, is of interest: 

"The Mohawk valley, -and especially 
that section of it at Little Falls, is a 
classic example among geographers. 
Not only is the Little Falls gorge the 
only low pass over the Appalachian 
Highlands between Canada and Ala- 
bama through which easy access is 
made from the Atlantic to the West, 
but is is also an extremely interest- 
ing place in itself. The Mohawk river 
at one time had its source at Little 
Falls while a westward flowing stream 
ran from that point to where now is 
I^ake Ontario. During the glacial per- 
iod the gorge was partly scooped out 
by ice, then for a time, while the St. 
Lawrence river was obstructed by ice, 
the Great Lakes had their outlet 
through the Mohawk valley instead of 



TPIE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



185 



the St. Lawrence and Little Falls ri- 
valled Niagara. Today the evidences of 
the work of ice and water, and also 
of far more ancient earthquake and 
volcanic action, are to be seen in un- 
usual clearness at the Little Falls 
gorge." This item was anent the visit 
to Little Falls of leading geographers 
of the world in 1912. 

The batteaux and boats of the Mo- 
hawk were the natural predecessors of 
the Erie packets and canal boats, the 
Central freight car, coach and Pull- 
man and the 3,000 ton barge. To the 
Mohawk and the utilization of its 
stream for transportation, is due much 
of the subsequent development of the 
communities along its banks and of 
New York state in general. 



CHAPTER VII. 

1609-1913— Mohawk Valley Transpor- 
tation — Indian Trails — Horse and 
Cart Roads, Highways (1700-1800) 
— Turnpikes and Mohawk Turnpike 
(1800-1840) —County Roads (1840- 
1885)— Bicycle Routes (1885-1900) — 
Automobile Roads (1900-1913) — 
Weed's 1824 Stage Coach Journey on 
the Mohawk Turnpike. 

This chapter, dealing with the Mo- 
hawk valley highways, is the second 
one describing transportation in the 
Mohawk valley. The first, published 
just before this one, covered traffic on 
the Mohawk river. Others follow 
treating of bridges, the Erie canal, 
railroads and the Barge canal. The 
highways are the most important and 
basic element in the matter of trans- 
portation, and their history and the 
life on the Mohawk thoroughfares are 
therefore of prime interest to all the 
valley inhabitants. 

The early highways and rude roads 
of our valley generally followed the 
Indian trails. These trails were good, 
though only two or three feet wide 
and "in many places, the savages kept 
the woods clear from underbrush by 
burning over large tracts." All 
streams had to be forded, except where 
the few ferries were, and these fords 
often determined the location of 



roads. Trees were felled across nar- 
row streams to make footbridges and 
the colonial governments frequently 
ordered these made. "When new paths 
were cut through the forests, the set- 
tlers 'blazed' the trees, that is they 
chopped a piece of bark off tree after 
tree, standing on the side of the way. 
Thus the 'blazes' stood out clear and 
white in the dark shadows of the for- 
ests, like welcome guide-posts, show- 
ing the traveler his way." 

The Indian trails covered eastern 
New York and connected the various 
Iroquois villages with each other or 
led to hunting and fishing grounds 
(like the Otsquago and Caroga trails) 
or into or towards these grounds and 
the countries of the enemies of the 
Mohawks and their brother tribes — 
such as the trail which ran from Can- 
ada to the Sacandaga and through 
Johnstown, Stone Arabia and Palatine 
to the ford at the mouth of the Caroga, 
there connecting with the Otsquago 
trail. The explorers, soldiers, traders 
and "wood-runners" used these Indian 
trails and the first white settlers util- 
ized them as roads as a matter of 
course, because, like the buffalo trails 
of the great west, they connected the 
most iinportant points and water- 
courses and lakes by the shortest and 
easiest routes. These western buf- 
falo trails were also Indian trails and 
are now trunk line railroads. So the 
trails naturally became the first valley 
highways and most of the more im- 
portant of these today are the Indian 
trails, enlarged, improved, straight- 
ened and graded. Of those of western 
Montgomery county are the north and 
south shore Mohawk turnpikes, the old 
Caroga road leading to the Caroga, 
Canada and other lakes of northern 
Fulton county and into the Adiron- 
dack country, the Canadian trail 
aforementioned leading from Lake 
George through Johnstown and Stone 
Arabia to the mouth of the Caroga, 
and the Otsquago valley road begin- 
ning at the other side of the Caroga 
ford and running to Otsego lake, the 
headwaters of the Susquehanna and 
into the Iroquois country. 

Over the old Indian valley trails 



186 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



or on the river came the first Dutch 
explorers and traders with their Iro- 
quois guides and helpers and the early 
French explorers and priests with 
their Algonquin aids and guides. Fol- 
lowing them came the Dutch, German 
and British settlers carrying their 
goods on their backs, on packhorses 
or in oxcarts or horsecarts — many of 
their fellow pioneers toiling painfully 
up against the current of the river in 
flatboats to their new homes in the 
Mohawk wilderness. Still later with 
the settlement and clearing of farms, 
these hardy men widened and cleared 
the trails and blazed new ones over 
which they transported farm and for- 
est produce in their rude wooden sleds 
and carts. Probably the first valley 
cartroad was the one between Albany 
and Schenectady after the settlement 
of Schenectady in 1661. 

Prior to 1800, and even later, these 
farm carts and wooden sleds were 
made on the farm. Just as all food 
and raw materials (such as hemp, flax, 
wool, etc.) were grown by the hus- 
bandman on his own lands, so was 
everything he and his family used 
made there. This necessitated an 
endless round of toil on the farm, from 
sunrise until after sunset all the year 
round excepting part of Sundays, but 
it made the farmer self-supporting, 
self-sufficient and independent of the 
world outside his own personal do- 
main. Each farm "was a kingdom unto 
itself. Every homestead had its car- 
penter's room or bench, just as it had 
its soap kettle, cheese room and smoke 
house (and occasional ice house), and 
all tools, implements, vehicles and 
rude farm machinery were made on 
the farm by the farmer himself. The 
nearest blacksmith shop supplied the 
necessary ironwork. 

Later the valley trails, or the cart- 
roads they were turned into, were 
used by the American and British 
troops and their baggage trains during 
the Revolution. Following their grad- 
ual improvement and the great immi- 
gration and traffic following the war 
for independence came the turnpikes, 
coincident with the building of bridges. 
Probably by 1800 the majority of our 



Mohawk valley highway system had 
been constructed, but it had for its 
basis the old Indian trails of the Mo- 
hawks. None of these improvements 
such as highways and bridges came 
of themselves but were the result of 
the strenuous work of the early valley 
men. 

After 1783, it was found necessary to 
improve transportation facilities in the 
Mohawk valley to accommodate its 
population and the tide of emigration 
pouring through it to the west. Roads 
were improved, bridges constructed 
and taverns built or remodeled from 
farmhouses on the lines of travel. 
New towns and counties were also 
formed as told in prior chapters. 

In April, 1790, the state legisla- 
ture voted "£100 for the purpose of 
erecting a bridge across the East Can- 
ada creek, not exceeding three miles 
from the mouth thereof, upon the road 
from the Mohawk river to the Royal 
Grant." In 1793 commissioners were 
appointed by the legislature with di- 
rections to build "a bridge over the 
East Canada creek, nearly opposite 
Canajoharie Castle, on the public road 
leading from Tribes Hill to the Little 
Falls." 

About 1790 stages made weekly 
trips in the valley and daily trips after 
the completion of the Mohawk turn- 
pike. The completion of the Scho- 
harie bridge at Fort Hunter and the 
construction of the Great Western 
turnpike from Albany westward 
marked the year 1798. This route 
connected with the Mohawk at Cana- 
joharie by stages which ran from 
Roof's tavern where the Hotel Wag- 
ner stands. 

The most important of all the valley 
roads are north and south shore turn- 
pikes which traverse the shores of the 
Mohawk for a distance of about ninety 
miles between Schenectady and Rome. 
In future days these will be splendid 
highways and are today most import- 
ant roads, the north shore or Mohawk 
turnpike ])eing one of the historic 
roads of North America and an im- 
portant part of the trunk highway be- 
tween New York and Buffalo, largely 
paralleling the Central railroad sys- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



187 



tern, trolley systems and the Barge 
canal. Chapter V. of this work gives 
a French account of these two river 
highways in 1756, covering the dis- 
tance mentioned from Rome to Sche- 
nectady. 

Prior to 1800 the south shore road 
seems to have been the more import- 
ant but since that time the north 
shore or Mohawk turnpike has been 
the major one. Over the Mohawk 
turnpike vast quantities of crops, raw 
material and merchandise were trans- 
ported in the half century comprised 
in the latter years of the eighteenth 
and early part of the nineteenth cen- 
turies. It has figured as a Mohawk 
Indian trail (until 1700), cart and 
horse path (1700-1750), wagon and 
stage road (1750-1836), freight wagon 
turnpike (1800-1840), bicycle and au- 
tomobile touring route (1890-1913) 
and has a future, among other things, 
as a freight and passenger motor car 
line. It is paralleled (1913) through- 
out by the New York Central railroad 
and by trolley lines from Rome to 
Cohoes, with the exception of a 
gap between Little Falls and Fonda, 
which doubtless will be connected ere 
long. The Mohawk turnpike shares, 
with the Mohawk river and the early 
Erie canal the glory of having been 
one of the valley travel routes 
by way of which hundreds of 
thousands of the ancestors of the 
present day westerners made their 
way to new homes, prior to the build- 
ing of the railroads and even for a 
number of years thereafter. 

The building of bridges over the 
East and West Canada creeks in 1793 
made the north shore road the favorite 
valley route, and the next forward 
step was the improvement of this Mo- 
hawk turnpike from Schenectady to 
Utica. The charter for its construction 
was granted April 4, 1800. 

Seth Wetmore, Levi Norton, Ozias 
Bronson, Hewitt Hills and three others 
were the first board of directors. This 
road was also called the Albany turn- 
pike. 

The Mohawk turnpike connected at 
Schenectady with the Mohawk and 
Hudson turnpike to Albany, the two 



forming a continuous trade route over 
one hundred miles in length from Al- 
bany and the Hudson valley to Rome 
and thence to the Great Lakes and 
western New York and the Great 
West. 

"The charter of the Utica and Sche- 
nectady Railroad company, granted in 
1833, required it, before beginning 
transportation, to purchase the rights 
of the Mohawk Turnpike Co. and to 
assume the responsibilities of the lat- 
ter. One of these responsibilities was 
that of keeping the turnpike in re- 
pair. It was provided however that 
the railroad company might abandon 
the turnpike, giving notice to the com- 
missioners of highways, and after such 
notice it should be kept in order in the 
same manner as other highways. The 
railroad company for a time took toll 
on the turnpike and kept it in repair, 
but subsequently removed the gates 
and became responsible for the main- 
tenance of only a part of the old high- 
way." 

With the opening of the Erie canal 
in 1825, traffic on the Mohawk turn- 
pike began to diminish as the freight 
wagons could not compete with the 
canal boats during the summer 
months. Probably they had a consid- 
erable use for a number of years, on 
the north turnpike in winter and on 
other Mohawk valley roads, to the 
north and south, all the year round. 
The stages continued to largely carry 
the valley passenger traffic, sharing it 
with the Erie canal packets in the 
summer months until after the build- 
ing of the Utica and Schenectady rail- 
road in 1836. This railroad, like any 
other railroad, was and is merely a 
highway with an 'iron bed carrying, 
by mechanical motive power, greatly 
enlarged editions of the turnpike 
stages and freight wagons. Stages 
continued in use on other Mohawk 
valley roads until the present day. 

The legislature in 1802 authorized 
the opening of certain roads in the 
state, and in pursuance of this act, 
the highway called the State road, 
leading from Johnstown in a north- 
western direction to the Black River 
country, was opened. It was subse- 



188 



THE STORY OF OLD P^ORT I'LAIN 



quently much used while that part of 
the country was being settled by emi- 
grants from the east. 

The improvement of the road, lead- 
ing from Schenectady to Utica along 
the south side of the Mohawk was 
deemed expedient, and commissioners 
were appointed in 1806 to direct the 
work, their instructions being to 
strighten the existing road and open 
it to a width of fifty feet. The towns 
through which it passed were required 
to repair and maintain it if their pop- 
ulation was not too small. 

The following from Simms's "Fron- 
tiersmen of New York," gives a good 
picture of the Mohawk turnpike and 
life thereon during the early nine- 
teenth century: 

"While the Mohawk was literally 
filled with boats of different kinds — 
for nearly every family living upon its 
banks had some kind of one — and 
Schenectady was a live town for re- 
ceiving and dispatching freight on and 
off them — large wagons were used in 
competition with them in the trans- 
portation of merchandise and produce 
to and from western New York. The 
produce — -wheat, whiskey and potash- 
came to Albany, from whence mer- 
chandise was returned. These wagons, 
covered with canvas, and drawn bj^ 
three to eight horses, were seen in 
numbers on the western and Mohawk 
turnpikes. The leaders usually had a 
little bell fastened upon the headstall. 
Mr. Alonzo Crosbj^ long superintend- 
ent of the eastern part of the western 
turnpike, counted up to 50 or more 
taverns between Albany and Cherry 
Valley, in the distance of 52 miles. 
Palatine Church, a hamlet at that time 
of some importance on the Mohawk 
turnpike, was 61 miles from Albany, 
the inns in that distance also averag- 
ing one to every mile. Indeed, inn- 
keepers were neighbors on those roads 
for a hundred miles to the westward 
of Albany. At this period tavern 
keeping was a lucrative business, es- 
pecially for the houses prepared with 
inclosed sheds and good stabling. 

"The horses before these wagons, 
which, at times, had a hundred or 
more bushels of wheat on, never trav- 



eled out of a walk. At the period of 
their use, brakes were unknown in de- 
scending hills, but a heavy iron shoe 
was used on the six-inch tire, which 
could be thrown from the wheel at the 
foot of a hill by a spring managed by 
the foot of the driver. The teamsters 
usually went on foot, whip in hand, 
and their constant travel had worn a 
good foot-path along each side of the 
road, near the fence, a hundred miles 
from Albany. The horses were seldom 
stabled nights, but had an oilcloth 
covering and were fed from a box or 
trough carried along and attached to 
the pole, which could not fall to the 
ground. The rear of the wagon was 
ornamented with a tar bucket and a 
water pail. The wagons were painted 
blue or slate color, and the covering 
remained white. A small box was se- 
cured upon one side or end of the 
wagon, containing a hammer, wrench, 
currycomb, etc. Those wagons paid 
no toll as they filled the ruts made by 
farm wagons. Some of the teams were 
driven by a single line on the forward 
nigh horse, and occasionally a postil- 
lion was seen on the nigh wheel horse; 
but those large Pennsylvania horses 
were so well trained as to be dexter- 
ously managed with a long leathern 
whip. When it was heavy traveling, 
those monster wagons progressed but 
a few miles in a day, soinetimes being 
two weeks in going from Albany to 
Geneva, Canandaigua or Rochester. 
Freight or merchandise west was, at 
first, one dollar a hundred from Albany 
to Utica. Although there were so many 
taverns on the road, still so numerous 
were the teams that, at times, one of 
a party in company was mounted and 
sent forward before night to secure ac- 
commodations with a good wagon- 
yard inclosure. 

"From two to ten of these large 
wagons were sometimes seen in com- 
pany, some of them carrying from 
three to four tons. The horses were 
usually fat. Some carried a jack- 
screw for raising an axle to take off a 
wheel; but this was seldom done, as a 
hole for pouring in tar or grease was 
made for the purpose. In ascending 
hills, the wagon was blocked at inter- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



189 



vals with a stone, carried by the team- 
ster behind it. After those mammoth 
wagons were supplanted by the Erie 
canal, several of them might have 
been seen about the old Loucks tav- 
ern, [in Albany] as also at Paul 
Clark's inn in the southwest part of 
Albany, where some of them rotted 
down. 

"On the Mohawk turnpike, as re- 
membered by Andrew A. Fink, George 
Wagner and others, were the following 
inn-keepers from Herkimer (80 miles 
from Albany) descending the valley. 
They may not be named in the order 
in which they stood: John Rasback, 
John Potter, Heacock; across West 
Canada creek, Nathaniel Etheridge, 
Upham, James Artcher, a teamster 
married one of his daughters. This inn 
had a peculiar sign. On one side was 
painted a gentleman richly clad and 
elegantly mounted on horseback with 
this motto, 'I am going to law.' On 
the reverse side was a very dilapi- 
dated man on a horse, the very pic- 
ture of poverty, saying, 'I have been 
to law.' [Continuing the list] John 
McCombs, Warner Dygert; at Little 
Falls, John Sheldon, Carr, Harris, 
Major Morgan; below the Falls, A. A. 
Fink. From Fink's to East Creek is 
five miles, and in that distance were 
13 dwellings, 12 of which were 
taverns occupied as follows: Bau- 
der; William Smith, his sign had on 
it an Indian chief; John Petrie, Henry 
Shults, James Van Valkenburgh, Law- 
rence Timmerman, John Wagner, 
Owens, Nathan Christie, Esq., David 
Richtmyer, Frederick Getman, James ^-^ 
and Luther Pardee ;v below East Creek, 
John Stauring, Van Dresser, James 
Billington, John Bancker, Michael U. 
Bauder, Yates, Jacob Failing, a favor- 
ite place for large wagons; Zimmer- 
man, Joseph Klock, Christian Klock, 
Daniel C. Nellis, John C. Nellis, 
Brown, Gen. Peter C. Fox, at Palatine 
Church; George Fox, John C. Lipe, 
George Wagner, Charles Walrath, 
Harris, Weaver, Richard Bortle, Nich- 
olas Gros, Samuel Fenner, an old sea 
captain who spun his skipper's yarns 
to customers; Jacob Hees, who also 
had a boat and lumber landing at Pal- 



atine Bridge; Josiah Shepard, a stage 
house; Weatherby, Jost Spraker, John 
DeWandelaer, now Schenck's place 
near the Nose; Frederick Dockstader, 
kept many large wagons; Connelly, 
Fred Dockstader, 2d, who had a run 
of double teams; Gen. Henry Fonda 
at now village of Fonda; Giles Fonda, 
Pride, Hardenburgh, Conyne, Lepper; 
in Tribes Hill, Kline, Putman, Wil- 
son; Guy Park, a favorable place for 
large wagons, kept at one time by 
McGerk; Col. William Shuler at Am- 
sterdam; below were Crane of Cranes- 
ville, Lewis Groat, Swart and others 
on this part of the route not remem- 
bered. At Schenectady are recalled. 
Tucker, Jacob Wagner, Shields, while 
the names of two others are forgotten, 
— one of them had a house in Frog 
Alley, which was burned by the slack- 
ing of lime. Between Schenectady and 
Albany were, Havely, Brooks, Vielie. 
The Half-way house was a stage house 
and kept by Leavitt Kingsbury, which 
became noted for its delicious coffee. 

"In the period of wagon transport 
when hay was $20 a ton, innkeepers 
had one dollar a span for keeping 
horses over night; and when hay was 
$10 a ton they had 50 cents a span, or 
one shilling a pound for hay. In spring 
and fall it was a common sight to see 
ten or fifteen horses drawing a single 
wagon from its fastness in the mud. 
The first load of hemp from the west, 
said Fink, was a five horse load from 
Wadsworth's fiats in the Genesee 
valley. 

"Some of the teamsters were at dif- 
ferent times on both (the Mohawk and 
the western) turnpikes. Freight from 
Albany to Buffalo was at first $5 per 
hundred weight, but competition at 
one time brought it down to $1.25. The 
teamsters on these turnpikes were as 
jovial and accommodating set of men. 
as ever engaged in any vocation, sel- 
dom having any feuds or lasting diffi- 
culties. Said Mr. Fink, in 1805-6 when 
Oneida and adjoining counties were 
receiving many of their pioneer set- 
tlers, New England people came pros- 
pecting on horseback, with well-filled 
saddle-bags and portmanteaus, and he 
often had 30 or 40 in a single night to 



190 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



entertain at his house below Little 
Falls." 

This was the day of the stage 
coach also and the Mohawk turnpike 
presented a spectacle of life and bustle 
as it shared with the Mohawk river 
the traffic of the valley. This was par- 
ticularly so during the years from 1800 
to the building of the Erie canal in 
1825. 

The earliest authentic town rec- 
ord of Palatine, now in existence, is 
that of a meeting of the commission- 
ers of excise, held May 3, 1803, for the 
purpose of granting licenses to inn- 
keepers. The number thus licensed 
will give an idea of the teaming and 
travel through the Palatine district, 
before the days of railroads or canals 
or even the completion of the Mohawk 
turnpike. The commissioners of ex- 
cise were Jacob Ecker, Henry Beek- 
man and Peter C. Fox who swore to an 
oath, before Justice of the Peace John 
Zielley, that "we will not on any ac- 
count or pretense whatever, grant any 
license to any person within the said 
town of Palatine, for the purpose of 
keeping an inn or tavern, except when 
it shall appear to us to be absolutely 
necessary for the benefit of travelers." 
Jost Spraker, Henry Cook, Andrew J. 
Dillenbeck, John F. Empie, Peter W. 
Nellis and 47 others (51 in all) were 
granted licenses. The sum paid by 
each was from $5 to $6.50, according 
to location, amounting in the aggre- 
gate for that year to $258.50. 

The Mohawk turnpike was the scene 
of much military activity during the 
years of 1812, 1813 and 1814, caused 
by the movement of New York troops 
going to defense of the frontier (in 
the second war with Great Britain) 
and their return at the close of hostil- 
ities. It shared this military traffic 
with the Mohawk river. 

After the railroad trains on the 
Utica and Schenectady road (forerun- 
ner of the New York Central), started 
running up and down the valley, the 
Mohawk turnpike ceased to be a line 
of bustling activity and important 
traffic route, being used only for local 
and farm wagon freightage. On the 
valley roads about 1880 appeared 



riders on the high bicj'cle and a few- 
years later the serviceable "safety" 
came into use and a veritable "bicycle 
craze" was inaugurated which lasted 
until about 1900, after which time the 
cheap and useful "wheel" took its 
rightful place as a ineans of trans- 
port. After 1895 appeared the "bi- 
cycle's son" — the automobile, and the 
future of our highways lies largely in 
their use as automobile freight and 
passenger roads — this use probably 
always to be supplemented by the 
farm horse and wagon. Coeval with 
the appearance of the bicycle and au- 
tomobile came the trolley car, whose 
lines parallel the valley roads in many 
places and which will undoubtedly 
form a traffic system, together with 
the railroads, the Barge canal and 
good highways, that will give well- 
nigh perfect transportation facilities 
to the Mohawk valley. The proper 
building of lasting highways is now 
one of the most important features of 
traffic in the Mohawk region as well 
as in New York state. Today we see 
regular lings of motor buses carrying 
passengers and motor trucks carrying 
freight running between different 
points in the valley. This is borne out 
by the following paragraph from the 
Fort Plain Standard of June 19, 1913: 

"The Fort Plain and Cooperstown 
Transportation Co. will start a pas- 
senger, freight and express business 
between this village and Cooperstown 
July 1. Motor busses will be utilized." 

This is doubly interesting as it was 
only a few months previous to this 
that the Cooperstown -Fort Plain stage 
route was abandoned after a duration 
of probably a century or more over 
this historic route to the Susquehanna 
valley. 

The interest in automobiles and the 
automobile interests were largely re- 
sponsible ^'or the good roads move- 
ment out the motor car has been its 
own enem5' in that the suction of the 
rubber tiros- de.stroys the surface of 
what were once coni-idered fine roads. 
Better materials will doubtless be 
found adapted to automobiles and all 
other vehicles, but in the meantime 
much money has been wasted. Writ- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



191 



ing on this subject S. L. Frey has said: 
"The automobile road between Albany 
and Buffalo runs through Montgom- 
ery county for thirty miles. It has 
for a foundation the solid strata of 
the Silurian rocks and the stone bed 
of the old Mohawk turnpike. It passes 
through a country of granite bould- 
ers, gneiss, sandstone, limestone, all 
kinds of ledges, cliffs and quarries, 
and yet .$20,000 [cost] a mile. And 
the grade some two feet to the mile 
with no hills!" 

The north shore turnpike is about 
forty miles long through Montgomery. 
Mr. Prey's article suggests that the 
Mohawk valley, with its abundance of 
stone supply, is an ideal region for the 
construction of ideal roads. Doubt- 
less they will come in time. At pres- 
ent (1913) the automobile traffic is 
enormous, particularly in summer. 
An average of a -car every two min- 
utes has been noted, during a period 
of several hours over the old Mohawk 
turnpike and the cars come from every 
part of the country. 

The New York Times of July 20, 
1913, published a description of the 
automobile route from New York to 
Canada by way of the Hudson and 
Mohawk valleys. The Itinerary in 
part, is here given, thus describing 
the Mohawk turnpike from Schenec- 
tady to Rome in 1913. This is one of 
the most important highways of the 
United States today just as it was one 
of the most noteworthy stage and 
freight wagon lines a century previous: 

"Prom Albany, owing to the poor 
condition of the direct route, it is ad- 
visable to go by way of Loudonville 
and Latham's Corners, then over the 
Troy-Schenectady State road to Sche- 
nectady, whence good macadam leads 
through the beautiful Mohawk valley, 
passing Scotia, Hoffmans, Amsterdam, 
Port Johnson, Tribes Hill and Fonda. 
The road is under construction from 
Fonda to Palatine Bridge, and a de- 
tour is advisable over a good but nar- 
row country road on the south side of 
the river. A good State road is fol- 
lowed from Palatine Bridge through 
Nelliston, St. Johnsville, Little Falls, 
Herkimer and Mohawk, and thence 



through Ilion, Schuyler and Deerfield 
to Utica. The scenery through the 
Mohawk valley leaves little to be de- 
sired. 

"On the other side of Utica the 
route leads through Rome, Camden, 
Williamstown, Richland, Mansville and 
Adams to Watertown. This route of- 
fers better road conditions than that 
through Boonville and Copenhagen." 
The route continues from Watertown 
to Ogdensburg and across the St. Law- 
rence river to Canada. 

The New York Sun, in July, 1913, 
published an automobile itinerary 
from New York to Cooperstown. It 
describes the route and road condi- 
tions of the north shore Mohawk turn- 
pike, from Schenectady to Nelliston 
and the Otsquago valley road from 
Fort Plain to Otsego lake, in 1913, and 
may be interesting to future readers. 
It is here reprinted as follows: "Leav- 
ing Albany the run is over a rough 
macadam and then poor dirt to Schen- 
ectady. Excellent macadam is then 
followed through Fonda. A pictur- 
esque alternate from Schenectady to 
Amsterdam is that via Mariaville. Al- 
though a little longer than the first 
route, the scenery is enjoyable and the 
roads are of good macadam. Between 
Fonda and Palatine Bridge the going 
is not of the best. Construction work 
is going on, but the road is passable, 
although very heavy in wet weather. 
A continuous panorama of beautiful 
views on this drive will more than 
recompense one for the discomforting 
road conditions. From Palatine Bridge 
[through Nelliston and Fort Plain] 
the roads are of good macadam and 
brick to about one mile before reach- 
ing Starkville, where a fairly good dirt 
road is encountered and followed 
through Van Hornesville to Spring- 
field Centre. To Cooperstown from 
Springfield Centre good roads are 
found. First a dirt road is followed 
which offers good going in dry 
weather. The balance to Cooperstown 
is macadam with some badly worn 
stretches. The run down the west side 
of Otsego lake is replete with excellent 
scenery, affording splendid views of 
the lake." 



192 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



This Fort Plain-Springfield-Coop- 
erstown road is a liistoric one, devel- 
oping from a Mohawk trail, Revolu- 
tionary road, stage and freight traffic 
route to the automobile highway of 
today. Mention has been made of the 
unique geographical position of the 
Mohawk valley in its being the only 
natural break through the Applachian 
range to the west in the Middle Atlan- 
tic states. The Otsquago valley occu- 
pies a similar position in the southern 
central Mohawk basin, as it is a 
natural break and easy grade leading 
from the Mohawk river to the Susque- 
hanna watershed. 



The following from the Beers his- 
tory of Montgomery county was writ- 
ten by Thurlow Weed, for many years 
a power in Whig and Republican poli- 
tics in New York state and editor of 
the Albany Journal. It was evidently 
written in 1870 and recounts the inci- 
dents of a stage coach trip on the Mo- 
hawk turnpike in 1824, a year before 
the completion of the Erie canal and 
in the heyday of Mohawk valley coach- 
ing days. Although Mr. Weed, writ- 
ing almost a half-century after his 
trip, makes many errors in the loca- 
tion of stage houses, etc., yet his nar- 
rative gives a suggestive picture of 
stage coach and freight-wagon days 
along the Mohawk in the early years 
of the nineteenth century. Mr. Weed's 
and other writings of the period, show 
that, while Conestoga was the true 
name of the great freight wagons and 
the stout breed of horses which drew 
them, yet they were generally known 
in the valley and in New York state 
as Pennsylvania wagons and horses. 
The part of the sketch of travel on the 
Mohawk turnpike by Thurlow Weed, 
printed herewith, covers that historic 
highway from Fall Hill through Mont- 
gomery county. His narrative deals 
entirely with the year 1824, except 
where he says "Judge Conkling is now 
(1870) the oldest surviving New York 
member of congress from this dis- 
trict." This Judge Conkling 6f Cana- 
joharie, was the father of U. S. Sena- 
tor Roscoe Conkling, who became as 
much of an influence in the machin- 



ery of New York state politics as 
Thurlow Weed himself had been. 

The proper location of the points 
mentioned by Mr. Weed in his jour- 
ney, in their order from west to east, 
are as follows, according to Simms: 
East Creek, Couch's stage house; St. 
Johnsville, Failing's tavern; between 
Canajoharie and Sprakers (south side 
of river), Kane's store; Sprakers, 
Spraker's stage house; near Tribes 
Hill, Conyne's tavern; Fort Johnson, 
at Fort Johnson. Of these, Mr. Weed 
correctly located only Couch's tavern 
and Fort Johnson. His account follows : 

"From Little Falls we come after 
an hour's ride to a hill by the bank of 
the river, which, several years before. 
Gen. Scott was descending in a stage 
when the driver discovered at a sharp 
turn near the bottom of the hill a 
Pennsylvania wagon winding its way 
up diagonally. The driver saw but 
one escape from a disastrous collision, 
and that to most persons would have 
appeared even more dangerous than 
the collision. The driver however, 
having no time for reflection, instantly 
guided his team over the precipice and 
into the river, from which the horses, 
passengers, coach and driver, were 
safely extricated. The passengers, 
following Gen. Scott's example, made 
the driver a handsome present as a 
reward for his courage and sagacity. 

"We dine at East Canada Creek, 
where the stage house, kept by Mr. 
Couch, was always to be relied on for 
excellent ham and eggs and fresh 
brook trout. Nothing of especial in- 
terest until we reach Spraker's, a well 
known tavern that neither stages nor 
vehicles of any description were ever 
known to pass. Of Mr. Spraker, senior, 
innumerable anecdotes were told. He 
was a man without education, but 
possessed strong good sense, consider- 
able conversational powers, and much 
natural humor. Most of the stories 
told about him are so Joe-Millerish 
that I will repeat but one of them. On 
one occasion, he had a inisunderstand- 
ing with a neighbor, which provoked 
both to say hard things of each other. 
Mr. Spraker having received a verbal 
hot shot from his antagonist, reflected 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



193 



a few moments and replied, 'Ferguson, 
dare are worse men in hell dan you;" 
adding after a pause, 'but they are 
chained.' ********* 

"At Canajoharie a , tall handsome 
man with graceful manners, is added 
to our list of passengers. This is the 
Hon. Alfred Conkling, who in 1820 was 
elected to congress from this district, 
and who has just been appointed judge 
of the United States District Court, 
for the Northern District of New York, 
by Mr. Adams. Judge Conkling is now 
(in 1870) the oldest surviving New 
York member of congress. In passing 
Conyne's hotel, near the Nose, the fate 
of a young lady who 'loved not wisely 
but too well,' with an exciting 
trial for breach of promise, etc., would 
be related. Still further east we stop 
at Failing's tavern to water. Though 
but an ordinary tavern in the summer 
season, all travelers cherish a pleasant 
remembrance of its winter fare; for 
leaving a cold stage with chilled limbs, 
if not frozen ears, you were sure to 
find in Failing's bar and dining- 
rooms 'rousing fires;' and the remem- 
brance of the light lively 'hot and hot' 
buckwheat cakes, and the unimpeach- 
able sausages, would renew the appe- 
tite even if you had just risen from a 
hearty meal. 

"Going some miles further east we 
come in sight of a building on the 
west side of the Mohawk river, and 
near its brink, the peculiar architec- 
ture of which attracts attention. This 
was formerly Charles Kane's store, or 
rather the store of the brothers Kane, 
five of whom were distinguished mer- 
chants in the early years of the pres- 
ent century. They were all gentlemen 
of education, commanding in person, 
accomplished and refined in manners 
and associations. * * * Here Com- 
modore Charles Morris, one of the most 
gallant of our naval officers, who in 
1812 distinguished himself on board 
the United States Frigate 'Constitu- 
tion' in her engagement with the Brit- 
ish frigate 'Guerriere' passed his boy- 
hood. In 1841, when I visited him on 
board of the United States seventy- 
four gun ship 'Franklin,' lying off An- 
napolis, he informed me that among 



his earliest recollections, was the 
launching and sailing of miniature 
ships on the Mohawk river. On the 
opposite side of the river, in the town 
of Florida, is the residence of Dr. 
Alexander Sheldon, for twelve years a 
member of the legislature from Mont- 
gomery county, serving six years as 
speaker of the house of assembly. The 
last year Dr. S. was in the legislature, 
one of his sons, Milton Sheldon, was 
also a member from Monroe county. 
Another son. Smith Sheldon, who was 
educated for a dry goods merchant, 
drifted some years ago to the city of 
New York, and is now the head of the 
extensive publishing house of Sheldon 
& Co., Broadway. 

"The next points of attraction were 
of much historical interest. Sir Wil- 
liam and Guy Johnson built spacious 
and showy mansions a few miles west 
of the village of Amsterdam, long be- 
fore the Revolution, in passing which, 
interesting anecdotes relating to the 
English Baronet's connection with the 
Indians were remembered. - A few 
miles west of Sir William Johnson's, 
old stagers would look for an addition 
to our number of passengers in the 
person of Daniel Cady, a very eminent 
lawyer, who resided at Johnstown, and 
for more than fifty years was con- 
stantly passing to and 'from Albany. 
At Amsterdam, Marcus T. Reynolds, 
then a rising lawyer of that village, 
often took his seat in the stage, and 
was a most companionable traveler." 

Mr. Simms, commenting on this 
sketch, indorses the author's refer- 
ence to circumstances "which com- 
pelled the male passengers at times to 
get out into the mud, and with rails 
appropriated from the nearest fence, 
to pry the wheels up so that the horses 
could start anew. Two miles an hour 
was not unfrequently, in the spring 
and fall, good speed at certain locali- 
ties." 

Correcting Mr. Weed's errors, as to 
locality, Mr. Simms says: "Conyne's 
hotel was three miles east of Fonda 
(he says near the Nose; if so there 
may have been two keepers of the 
same name), and * * * Failing's 
tavern was at St. Johnsville, and some 



194 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



twelve miles to the westward of the 
Nose, and more than twenty miles to 
the westward of Conyne's. At Pala- 
tine Bridge was one of the most noted 
stage houses in the valley. It was 
built and first kept by Shepherd, and 
afterwards by the late Joshua Reed, 
and was as widely and favorably 
known as any other public house 
within fifty miles of it." 

For a clear and comprehensive de- 
scription of old turnpike days, travel 
and vehicles, the reader is advised to 
consult Alice Morse Earle's "Home 
Life in Colonial Days." 



CHAPTER VIII. 
1793-1913— First Bridges in Middle 

Mohawk Valley and Montgomery 

County — Celebration at Opening of 

Fort Plain Bridge, July 4, 1806 — Fort 

Plain Free Bridge, 1858. 

This is the third chapter on Mohawk 
valley transportation. The two prior 
ones were on river and turnpike traf- 
fic. Those to follow relate to Erie 
canal, railroads and Barge canal and 
Atwood's aeroplane flight. 

The increase of population in Tryon, 
now Montgomery county, following the 
Revolutionary war, and the increase 
in traffic along the Mohawk necessi- 
tated improvements in river naviga- 
tion and in the highways, as has been 
noted in preceding chapters. Great 
numbers of new settlers were journey- 
ing through the valley to points in the 
middle west, aside from those who 
were coming into the Mohawk valley 
and into western and northern New 
York to permanently locate. The fords 
and ferries on the Mohawk and its 
contributory creeks had been the 
only and difficult means of cross- 
ing these streams, during the eigh- 
teenth century which was the per- 
iod of first settlement and devel- 
opment. The greatly increased 
traffic necessitated the construction of 
bridges and the building of these was 
one of the marked features of the life 
along the Mohawk at the beginning of 
the nineteenth century. 

A list of the important bridges and 
the dates of their construction in the 



eastern part of the Mohawk valley 
follows: 

East (Canada) creek, 1793; Scho- 
harie creek at Fort Hunter, 1798; 
Schoharie creek at Mill Point, 1800; 
Little Falls (prior to), 1802; 
across the Mohawk at Canajoharie, 
1803; Fort Plain (Sand Hill), 1806; 
Schenectady, 1810; Fonda (Caughna- 
waga), 1811; Amsterdam, 1823; Yosts, 
1825 (carried away by ice shortly 
after); Fort Hunter, 1852; St. Johns- 
ville, 1852. 

These cross-overs were all wooden 
structures and these picturesque 
bridges have all been replaced by 
those of modern iron construction. 
The last of the old-timers to go was 
that at St. Johnsville, and many of 
them had formerly been undermined 
and carried away by ice during the 
Mohawk spring freshets. Each had its 
toll-keeper and the quaint list of tolls, 
in well-painted characters, which 
stood at the west side of the East 
Creek bridge was long of interest to 
later-day travelers. 

The first important structure span- 
ning a stream within the present lim- 
its of Montgomery and Fulton coun- 
ties was the bridge at East (Canada) 
creek. In April, 1790, the state legis- 
lature voted "one hundred pounds for 
the purpose of erecting a bridge across 
the East Canada creek, not exceeding 
three miles from the mouth thereof, 
upon the road from the Mohawk river 
to the Royal Grant." In 1793, com- 
missioners were appointed by the leg- 
islature to build "a bridge over the 
East Canada creek, nearly opposite 
Canajoharie Castle, on the public road 
leading from Tribes Hill to the Little 
Falls," also over West Canada creek. 

In 1798 a very important bridge was 
built on the south shore turnpike over 
the Schoharie creek at Fort Hunter. 
The improvement of the Mohawk 
(north shore) turnpike from Schenec- 
tady to Utica, about 1800, necessitated 
the erection of other structures across 
streams, which had formerly been 
forded by travelers. 

The first bridge across the Mohawk 
was probably the one at Little Falls 
noted by Rev. John Taylor in his diary 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



195 



of his valley tour of 1802. This was six- 
teen rods long, and it is mentioned in 
a former chapter of this work on Mo- 
hawk river traffic. 

The second bridge over the Mohawk 
river in the valley seems to have been 
the one erected at Canajoharie in 1803, 
by Theodore Burr of Jefferson county. 
This was popularly called a bow 
bridge and consisted of a single arch 
330 feet long. It fell in 1807 with a 
crash that was heard for miles. In 
1808 a second bridge was built which 
was carried away in the spring freshet 
of 1822. David I. Zielley, a Palatine 
farmer, built a third bridge which 
"went out" with the ice in 1833, and 
Simms says "its destruction was a 
most splendid sight from Canajoharie, 
as the writer well remembers." A 
new bridge was built by August, 1833, 
which remained in use in part up to 
recent years. The Canajoharie bridge 
was rebuilt in 1913. 

The third bridge to be completed 
and used across the Mohawk was that 
built at the lower end of "the Island," 
which lies in the Mohawk at the 
northern limits of Fort Plain. This 
structure consisted of two bridges 
with several rods of the roadway of 
the island intervening between them — 
the shorter one on the western shore 
and the longer one on the eastern side 
of the island. The Mohawk here runs 
north and south and the main channel 
was on the east side of the island. 
The Minden exit was near the store 
of James Oothout, the early Minden 
tradesman. 

This was officially called the 
"Montgomery bridge," but came to be 
called in the neighborhood, "Oot- 
hout's bridge." The commissioners 
for its erection were James Beardsley 
of East Creek, Col. Charles Newkirk 
and Col. Peter Wagner of Palatine 
Church, for the east side, and Messrs. 
Oothout, Gansevoort, Dygert, Arndt 
and Keller for the west side. Beards- 
ley, himself a millwright, was its con- 
tractor and Philip Washburn, who 
had worked under Burr, who built the 
Canajoharie bridge, was boss carpen- 
ter under Beardsley. These twin 
bridges, like many such early struc- 



tures were of wood, not covered and 
rested upon wooden piers or supports. 
The toll house was upon the Fort 
Plain side of the river. The timber 
for the "north bridge" (as generally 
called) came mostly from the Wag- 
ner farm, while that for the "south" 
bridge came from Snellsbush. Al- 
though the river runs north and south 
from Palatine Church to Canajoharie, 
the river sides are generally called 
north and south sides as in the rest of 
the valley where the course of the 
Mohawk is generally east and west. 
After the Canajoharie bridge fell in 
1807 it was the only bridge across the 
Mohawk in the present county until 
the new one at Canajoharie was built. 
James Beardsley of East Creek was 
one of the Fort Plain bridge commis- 
sioners because at that date (1806 and 
until 1817) Montgomery county ran 
west to Fall Hill. 

Simms says that the completion of 
Fort Plain bridge "was celebrated 
with no little pomp on the 4th of 
July, 1806, and took place on the north 
[east] bank of the river not far from 
the bridge. Gen. Peter C. Fox, in full 
uniform and mounted upon a splendid 
gray horse, was grand marshal on the 
occasion, and had at his command a 
company of artillery with a cannon, 
and Capt. Peter Young's well-mounted 
cavalry. The latter company is said 
to have trotted across the bridge to 
test its strength, and a severe one that 
would naturally be. Besides several 
yoke of oxen were driven over it to 
obtain a still further proof of its com- 
pleteness, while a cannon blazed away 
at one end of it. Some one delivered 
an oration on this occasion. A dinner 
was served at the public house of the 
elder George Wagner to the multi- 
tude, who looked upon the completion 
of this enterprise as a marked event — 
and, indeed, such it was, for the ser- 
vices of ferrymen who had pulled at 
the rope for years, a little below, were 
now at an end and the delay and dan- 
ger of crossing by ferriage w'as obvi- 
ated. 

"Methinks I can now see the table 
on w^hich this dinner was served, 
groaning under the burden of good 



196 



THE STOEY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



eatables; its head adorned with a 
good sized pig roasted wliole — a sight 
yet common fifty years ago, but now 
seldom seen at the festive board. This 
Wagner place is the present [1882] 
homestead [how burned] of the old 
innkeeper's grandson, Chauncey Wag- 
ner. This remarkable bridge celebra- 
tion was kept up three successive days, 
the parties dancing each night at the 
Wagner tavern, where Washburn and 
his hands boarded. 

"When this bridge was erected, 
nearly .all there was of Fort Plain — 
which took its name from the [former] 
military post nearby — was in the vi- 
cinity of this bridge. True, Isaac 
Paris had a few years before been 
trading at the now Bleecker residence 
in the present village, and Casper Lipe 
had another store for a time near the 
creek bridge; but besides the Oothout 
store, Conrad Gansevoort had one half 
a mile below at Abeel's; while on the 
hill near the meeting house, Robert 
McFarlan was then trading — besides 
there were several mechanics within 
the same distance, all of whom are 
said to have done a prosperous busi- 
ness. * * * The ice took off the 
northern or principal structure of the 
Island Bridge in April, 1825, after it 
had served the public for nineteen 
years." 

At that time a growing, lively little 
village was on the present site of Fort 
Plain and had entirelj' usurped in im- 
portance the old Sand Hill section. 
Consequently the next bridge was 
built at the present river bridge 
site and was opened for carriages, 
January 1, 1829. This was a sub- 
stantial covered bridge, like many 
similar structures in the valley at that 
day. The bridge stock of the Island 
Bridge company had not been a pro- 
fitable investment and stock in the 
new bridge company was not greatly 
sought after. This bridge went out in 
the spring "high water" of 1842 and 
lodged on Ver Planck's (now Nellis) 
island and on the Gros flats. A new 
bridge was built in the summer of 
1842 and lasted until the spring of 
1887, when the ice broke down the 
abutments, during the spring flood 



and carried the bridge away. The 
present iron structure which replaced 
it is said to be the longest single span 
iron bridge of its type in Central New 
York. 

A free bridge, across the Mohawk at 
Fort Plain was projected in 1857 and 
work on an iron bridge, to stand just 
north of the present one, was begun 
in the same summer. Before the ma- 
sonry was completed the work was 
stopped by an injunction, which de- 
layed its completion until the sum- 
mer of 1858 when the bridge was open- 
ed absolutely free to the public and the 
covered bridge company thereby ceas- 
ed taking toll. Litigation over the 
two bridges between the two com- 
panies finally resulted in the free 
bridge people obtaining possession of 
the old bridge at a serious loss to the 
stockholders interested in the latter. 
The iron bridge was finally disposed 
of and the proceeds used to raise and 
put into condition the covered bridge 
which continued to be free to the pub- 
lic. The late William Aplin says that, 
about the middle of the nineteenth 
century, the farmers of this neighbor- 
hood used to utilize a large door in the 
bridge for the purpose of dumping the 
manure from their farms into the Mo- 
hawk! Thus have farmers and farm- 
ing methods changed between that 
time and this. 

Says Simms: "The Fort Plain free 
bridge movement had a direct ten- 
dency to make nearly all the other 
bridges on the river free bridges; the 
time having arrived when the enter- 
prise of the country demanded the 
measure. In 1859 an act was passed 
to erect a free bridge at Canajoharie 
or compel the sale of the old one — to 
l)e made free — which result followed." 

In 1825, it has been previously noted 
a bridge across the Mohawk was 
erected between Yosts, at the western 
end of the town of Mohawk and Ran- 
dall, in the eastern end of the town of 
Root. This was shortly after swept 
away by ice. In 1852 a bridge was 
built across the Mohawk at St. Johns- 
ville, on the site of the present struc- 
ture, thus completing the three bridges 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



197 



which span the river in western 
Montgomery countJ^ , 

A feature of bridge building on the 
Mohawlv is today (1913) the bridges 
erected by the state in connection with 
the Barge canal locks. These may be 
utilized by the towns, on which they 
abut, constructing proper approaches. 
In western Montgomery county these 
locks and bridges are at Fort Plain; 
Canajoharie and Yosts (Randall). The 
Amsterdam bridge was rebuilt in 1913. 

It is difficult today to realize the im- 
Ijortance of the erection of the first 
bridges to the valley people. It :neant 
greater trade and intercourse among 
themselves and with the outside world 
and the construction of an important 
bridge was invariably followed by an 
increased population center at one or 
both ends of the structure. Commun- 
ities like Fort Plain and Canajoharie, 
which have been deprived of their 
bridges, can thoroughly realize the im- 
portance of such viaducts of traffic 
and transportation and the necessity 
for the permanence of their construc- 
tion and efficiency of their upkeep. 
Good roads and good bridges go to- 
gether as prime essentials for civilized 
agricultural regions. 



CHAPTER IX. 

1812 — The Militia System — Trainings — . 
War With England — The Mohawk 
Valley Militia. 

After the Revolutionary war was 
crow'ned by peace, the men of America 
kept up their military training and the 
militia system arose, under which mar- 
tial exercise was regularly practised. 
The officers and men supplied them- 
selves with their necessary military 
arms and outfit, and this system con- 
tinued for over a half century after 
the close of the war for independence. 

Beers's History says: "This militia 
consisted of all the able-bodied white 
male population, between 18 and 45. 
State officers, clergymen and school 
teachers were exempt from such duty. 
Students in colleges and academies, 
employes on coasting vessels, and in 
certain factories, and members of fire 



companies were also exempt, except in 
case of insurrection or invasion. Per- 
sons (like Quakers) whose only bar to 
military service was religious scru- 
ples could purchase exemption for a 
set sum paid annually. The major- 
general, brigade-inspector and chief of 
the staff department, except the ad- 
jutant and commissary generals, were 
appointed by the Governor. Colonels 
were chosen by the captains and sub- 
alterns of the regiments, and these 
latter by the written ballots of their 
respective regiments and separate 
battalions. The commanding officers 
of regiments or battalions appointed 
their staff officers. Every non-com- 
missioned officer and private was 
obliged to equip and uniform himself, 
and perform military duty for 15 
years from enrollment, after which he 
was exempt except in case of in- 
surrection or invasion. A non-com- 
missioned officer could get excused 
from duty in seven years, by fur- 
nishing himself with certain speci- 
fied equipment, other than those 
required by law. It was the duty 
of the commanding officer of each 
company to enroll all military sub- 
jects within the limits of his juris- 
diction, and they must equip them- 
selves within six imonths after being 
notified. 

"On the first September Monday of 
each year, every company of the mi- 
litia was obliged to assemble within 
its geographical limits for training. 
One day in each year, between Sept. 1 
and Oct. 15, at a place designated by 
the commander of the brigade, the 
regiment was directed to assemble for 
general training. All the officers of 
each regiment or battalion were re- 
quired to rendezvous two days in suc- 
cession, in June, July or August, for 
drill under the brigade inspector. A 
colonel also appointed a day for the 
commissioned officers and musicians 
of his regiment to meet for drill, the 
day after the last mentioned gathering 
being generally selected. Each mi- 
litiaman was personally notified of an 
approaching muster by a non-com- 
missioned officer bearing a warrant 
from the commandant of his company; 



198 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



or he might be summoned without a 
warrant by a commissioned officer, 
either by visit or letter. A failure to 
appear, or to bring the necessary 
equipment, resulted in a court-mar- 
tial and a fine, unless a good excuse 
could be given. Delinquents who 
could not pay were imprisoned in the 
county jail. When a draft was order- 
ed for public service it was made by 
lot in each company, which was or- 
dered out on parade for that purpose." 

"General training" was a great holi- 
day for everybody in the neighbor- 
hood where it was held. The militia- 
men and their wives and families (and 
particularly the small boys) together 
with the "exempts" turned out and 
made an enjoyable and festive day of 
it. The place of meeting and the ex- 
tent of the parade grounds were desig- 
nated by the commanding officer. The 
sale of liquor on the ground could only 
be carried on by the consent of the 
same official, but total abstinence sel- 
dom seems to have been the rule on 
this eventful day. The flats near Fort 
Plain were favorite places for "general 
training." 

The first company of cavalry or- 
ganized in this part of the Mohawk 
valley took in a large district of coun- 
try and was raised and commanded by 
Capt. Hudson (a merchant of Indian 
Castle, and probably the Capt. B. 
Hudson, who commanded Fort Plain 
in 1786) early in the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Peter Young of Fort Plain, be- 
came its second captain, and he was 
succeeded by Capt. Wemple (of Cana- 
joharie). At his death Jacob Eacker 
of Palatine, became captain, and on 
his resignation Nicholas N. Van Al- 
stine commanded. As he was not the 
unanimous choice of the company, 
which was then a large one, his se- 
lection led to a division into two com- 
panies, that on the north side of the 
Mohawk being commanded by Barent 
Getman. In 1836, the major general of 
the second division of militia was an 
Amsterdam man bearing the singular 
name of Benedict Arnold. Aaron C. 
Whitlock of Ephratah was brigadier- 
general in the same division. 

At the time of the War of 1812, the 



state of New York, along the Canadian 
frontier, was largely a wilderness and 
transportation thence was slow and 
laborious. The slightly improved Mo- 
hawk river was the only route, except 
the valley highways, for the westward 
conveyance of cannon. This heavy or- 
dinance was loaded on Durham boats 
and so sent up the river. April 10, 
1812, congress authorized a draft of 
100,000 men from the militia of the 
country to prosecute the war with 
England; 13,500 of these were as- 
signed as the quota of New York. A 
few days later the detached militia of 
the state was arranged in two divis- 
ions and eight brigades. The fourth 
brigade comprised the 10th, 11th and 
13th regiments in the Mohawk valley 
and was under the command of Gen. 
Richard Dodge of Johnstown, a vet- 
eran of the Revolution (and a brother- 
in-law of Washington Irving). These 
troops went to the front and returned 
largely by the north and south shore 
turnpikes. 

Says Beers: "The embargo act was 
extensively violated and much illicit 
trade carried on along the Canadian 
frontier, smugglers sometimes being 
protected by anned forces from the 
Canadian side. To break up this state 
of things and protect the military 
stores collected at the outposts, a reg- 
iment of valley militia, under Col. 
Christopher P. Bellinger, was stationed 
in May, 1812, at Sackett's Harbor and 
other points in Northern New York. 
These on the declaration of war in the 
following month (June, 1812) were re- 
inforced by a draft on the militia not 
yet called into service. The Mont- 
gomery county militia responded 
promptly to the calls for troops to de- 
fend the frontier, and were noted for 
their valor and patriotic zeal, sub- 
mitting without complaint to the var- 
ious privations incident to the march 
and camp. A detachment of them un- 
der Gen. Dodge arrived at Sackett's 
Harbor, Sept. 21, 1812, and the gen- 
eral took command at the post. Dur- 
ing the two succeeding years, the mi- 
litia and volunteers from the Mohawk 
valley were on duty all along the fron- 
tier. When the term of service of any 



THE STORY OF OLD PORT PLAIN 



VJ\) 



company or regiment expired it was 
succeeded by another. Many of the 
garrison of Sackett's Harbor, when it 
was attacked by the British, May 24, 
1813, were from this section. That 
place was an important depot of mili- 
tary stores, a large amount of which 
was destroyed by the garrison, in fear 
of its falling into the hands of the 
British, who, however, were finally re- 
pulsed. 

"The house in the town of Florida, 
later owned by Waterman Sweet, was 
kept as a hotel by one Van Derveer, 
during the war of ]812, and was a 
place of drafting militia into the ser- 
vice. 

"At Canajoharie, a recruiting ren- 
dezvous was opened by Lieut. Al- 
phonso Wetmore and Ensign Robert 
Morris of the Thirteenth regiment, 
both residents of Ames, who raised 
two companies which were ordered to 
the Niagara frontier in time to take 
part in the first events of importance 
in that quarter. The Thirteenth suf- 
fered severely at the battle of Queens- 
town Heights, Ensign Morris and 
Lieut. Valleau being among the killed 
and five other officers severely wound- 
ed. After that engagement operations 
Avere for some time confined to bom- 
bardment across the Niagara river 
from the fortifications at [Fort] Ni- 
agara and Black Rock [now part of 
Buffalo]. At the latter point Lieut. 
Wetmore lost his right arm by a can- 
non shot. He was subsequently pro- 
moted to' the offices of major and di- 
vision paymaster." 

At the time of the publication of 
Beers's History in 1878, a goodly num- 
ber of the Montgomery and Fulton 
veterans of 1812 still survived. They 
are therein mentioned as follows: 
Moses Winn, Minden, in his 88th year 
(his father was a captain in the Revo- 
lution and sheriff of the county after 
the war) ; George Bauder, Palatine, in 
his 92d j^ear; John Walrath, Minden, 
nearly 82; William H. Seeber, Minden, 
about 86; Peter G. Dunckel, Minden, 
about 84; Henry Nellis, Palatine, about 



84; John Casler, Minden, nearly 86; 
Abram Moyer, Minden, about 84; 
Cornelius Clement Flint, Minden. about 
84; Benjamin Getman, Ephratah, 86; 
Henry Lasher, Palatine, 88; Pytha- 
goras Wetmore, Canajoharie, 80; John 
Eigabroadt, St. Johnsville, about 82. 
In the eastern part may be mentioned: 
J. Lout, Mohawk; David Ressiguie, 
94; Amasa Shippee, Capt. Reuben 
Willard, Northampton. It is only a 
few years ago (from the date of this 
writing, 1912) that the great public 
funeral occurred in New York of 
Hiram Cronk, the last survivor of the 
War of 1812, and a resident of the Mo- 
hawk valley throughout his life, his 
death occurring near Utica. At the 
time of the war of 1812, it should be 
remembered that Montgomery and 
Fulton were one county — Montgomery. 
Its western limit was a line running 
north and south from Fall Hill. 



One of the leading figures in the 
1812 militia of the old Canajoharie dis- 
trict was Major John Herkimer, son of 
Capt. George Herkimer and nephew of 
General Nicholas Herkimer. At that 
time the river section of the district 
was divided into the towns of Min- 
den and Canajoharie, and Major Her- 
kimer was a resident of that western 
portion of Minden which later, in 
1817, became Danube, when it was in- 
cluded in Herkimer county. He occu- 
pied the Herkimer homestead until 
1817. John Herkimer represented 
Montgomery county in 1799 in the state 
assembly. March 13, 1813, he was 
commissioned a major in Col. Mill's 
New York volunteer regiment. Major 
Herkimer was in the battle at Sack- 
ett's Harbor, when Col. Mills was kill- 
ed. Herkimer was a leading anti- 
Clintonian and was a member of con- 
gress in 1822, where he voted for John 
Quincy Adams in the electoral college 
deadlock which threw the election into 
congress. He was a Herkimer county 
judge and was generally known as 
Judge Herkimer. 



200 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



CHAPTER X. 

1817-1825 — Construction of Erie Canal 
— Clinton's Triumphal Trip — Fort 
Plain's Celebration. 

This chapter on the Erie canal is the 
fourth chapter describing transporta- 
tion in the Mohawlv valley. Former 
ones dealt with Mohawk river traffic, 
valley highways and bridges. Those 
following the present one treating of 
the Erie canal concern railroad build- 
ing, the Barge canal and the first aero- 
plane flight by Atwood, in all seven 
chapters on Mohawk valley traffic con- 
ditions. The Erie canal is supplied 
with water from the Mohawk river 
and thus is closely connected with 
that stream.. This is therefore the 
fourth chapter relative to the Mo- 
hawk. The first described the Mo- 
hawk river and its valley, the second 
considered Mohawk river traffic, the 
third treated of river and other bridges, 
the present and fourth covers the Erie 
canal and the fifth will be on the 
Barge canal and the sixth will con- 
sider the geology of the middle Mo- 
hawk valley. 

Canal construction in the United 
States in the early nineteenth century 
was part of that great movement for 
the improvement of transportation 
which followed the war for independ- 
ence and began almost immediately at 
the conclusion of peace in 1783. As a 
general rule, turnpike and bridge 
building inaugurated this movement, 
followed by canal and railroad con- 
struction in the second and third de- 
cades of the nineteenth century. The 
first American canal of importance 
was the Lehigh, completed in 1821, 
rimning 108 miles from Coalport, Pa., 
to Easton, Pa. The second was the 
Champlain canal, completed in 1822, 
and running 81 miles from Whitehall, 
N. Y., to Watervliet, N. Y. In dis- 
cussing the Erie canal we consider 
one of the most important trade routes 
and canals of the world. 

The construction of Erie canal from 
1817 to 1825 gave the greatest impetus 
to the development of population, trade 
and commerce in the Mohawk valley 
that it has ever experienced. Certain 



towns and villages owe their location 
and growth almost entirely to "Clin- 
ton's ditch" and are therefore Canal 
towns. In Montgomery county. Fort 
Plain, Canajoharie and Fultonville be- 
long .to this class. In the heyday of 
canaling these were among the most 
important canal towns on the Erie be- 
tween Utica and Schenectady. Fort 
Plain was then as at present (1913) 
the largest town in the 40-mile strip 
l>etween l..ittle Falls and Amsterdam, 
and Canajoharie, with its dry dock and 
l)oat building works, was equally im- 
portant. 

The project of a continuous water- 
way from the Hudson to the Great 
Lakes had been agitated ever since 
the days of the earliest settlement of 
New York state and the Mohawk 
river-Wood creek-Oneida lake-Oswego 
river route is the parent of the Erie 
canal and was in use as the water 
route (with the carrj^ at Wood creek) 
from the Hudson to Lake Ontario for 
two centuries before the completion 
of the Erie canal. Washington, on his 
tour of the valley in 1783, was greatly 
impressed by the water comiUiunica- 
tions of the regions, as is shown in a 
prior chapter. 

The incorporation of the Inland 
Lock Navigation Co. in 1792 was the 
first step toward canalizing this Mo- 
hawk river to the lakes route, which 
had previously been traversed exclu- 
sively by canoes, dugouts and flat- 
boats. This company was not suc- 
cessful as has been shown and sold 
out to the state in 1820. 

Mrs. Earle, in her work, "Home Life 
in Colonial Days," states that the Hud- 
son-to-the-Great Lakes canal project 
was proposed in the New York pro- 
vincial assembly as early as 1768. 

While the Erie canal was doubtless 
the outcome of the public-spirited ef- 
forts of a number of the state's most 
progressive and far-seeing citizens, it 
is true that particular credit for the 
inauguration of the enterprise is due a 
few moving spirits. The "Live Wire," 
a publication issued 1)y the Buffalo 
Chamber of Commerce, devoted its is- 
sue of August, 1913, to the Barge 
canal wit'n incidental allusion to its 



tup: story of old fort plain 



201 



predecessor, the Erie. It stated that 
the Erie canal was generally called 
the "Grand Canal" during its period 
of construction. • The periodical men- 
tioned gives great credit for New York 
state taking up the construction of the 
waterway to Jesse Hawley. a resident 
of Ontario county. On Jan. 14, 1807, 
he published an article in the Pitts- 
burgh "Commonwealth" urging the 
building of the Albany to Buffalo 
canal, under the signature "Hercules." 
He was at that time temporarily living 
in Pittsburgh. The "Live Wire" says 
that prior to this time no one had 
printed a word or spoken a word in 
public in favor of this measure. On 
Hawley's return to his previous home 
in Ontario county, New York, he pub- 
lished a series of fourteen articles in 
the "Ontario Messenger" (also known 
as the "Genesee Messenger"), a news- 
paper issued at Canandaigua. These 
papers constituted a complete exposi- 
tion of the whole subject, setting forth 
the advantages of the work, describing 
the canals of Europe, comparing the 
Erie canal scheine with them and es- 
timating the cost — which estimate 
closely approximated the actual ex- 
pense of the canal afterward built. It 
is interesting to note that the initial 
measure taking up the subject of the 
public work, was introduced into the 
state assembly by Judge Forman, from 
the then great county of Ontario, 
where Hawley resided and where his 
views were published. 

At Schenectady in 1803, Gouverneur 
Morris suggested to Simeon DeWitt, 
state surveyor, a project for conveying 
the water of Lake Erie direct to the 
Hudson, by means of a canal so con- 
structed as to preserve a continuous 
fall to the high lands bordering on the 
river, which should be surmounted by 
the use of locks. The surveyor-gen- 
eral, in common with most of those 
to whom the scheme was mentioned, 
regarded the project as visionary. He 
so represented it to James Geddes, a 
surveyor of Onondaga county. Geddes, 
on reflection, decided it practical. The 
proposition was first brought before 
the legislature by Joshua Forman, 
member from Onondaga, Feb. 4, 1808. 



A committee was appointed to inves- 
tigate the subject and reported in favor 
of an examination of the route (both 
from Oneida lake to Lake Ontario and 
from Lake Erie eastward to the Hud- 
son). This was made by the afore- 
mentioned James Geddes, who made a 
favorable report to the committee. A 
further survey was made in 1810 and 
the cost of the canal estimated at 
$5,000,000. The length of the canal 
was estimated at 350 miles and the 
cost of transportation at $6 per ton. 
Appeals for help from the national 
government having failed, the canal 
commissioners were, by the legisla- 
ture, authorized to obtain a loan of 
$5,000,000, and procure the right of 
way. 

Further progress was prevented by 
the War of 1812, but toward the close 
of 1815 the project was revised. In 
spite of much opposition, the efforts of 
the canal champions both in and out 
of the legislature (especially Dewitt 
Clinton), procured the passage of an 
act Apr. 17, 1816, providing for the 
appointment of commissioners to take 
up the work. The following formed 
this board: Dewitt Clinton, Stephen 
Van Rensselaer, Samuel Young, Jo- 
seph Elliott and Myron Holies. Clin- 
ton was president. The plan of a con- 
tinuous slope from Lake Erie, first 
proposed, was abandoned by the com- 
mission, and that of following the un- 
dulations of the surface adopted. Five 
millions was again estimated as the 
full cost of construction. April 15, 
1817, an act prepared by Clinton was 
passed, in the face of great opposi- 
tion, authorizing the commencement 
of the actual work. The canal project 
had always been considered by many 
a ruinous experiment and "lamenta- 
tions were frequently heard on the 
miseries of an overtaxed people and 
their posterity." Says Beers: 

"The canal was divided into three 
sections, from Albany to Rome, Rome 
to the Seneca river, and thence to 
Lake Erie. Charles C. Broadhead was 
engineer in charge of the eastern di- 
vision, Benjamin Wright of the middle 
division and James Geddes of the 
western. The canal was planned to be 



202 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



40 feet wide at the surface, 28 at the 
bottom and the depth of water to be 
four feet. The locks were 90 feet long 
and 12 wide in the clear. The com- 
missioners were authorized to borrow, 
on the credit of the State, sums not 
exceeding $400,000 in any one year. 
Nearly $50,000 had been spent in ex- 
ploration and surveys on the work be- 
fore ground was broken." These fig- 
ures seem insignificantly petty com- 
pared with the vast sums that have 
since been frequently wasted on so- 
called public improvements. 

Ground was broken at Rome, July 4, 
1817, in the presence of DeWitt Clin- 
ton, the canal's greatest champion, 
who was then governor of New York 
and the canal commissioners. John 
Richardson held the plow in opening 
the first furrow. "It was more than 
two years before any part of the line 
was ready for use. On the 22d of Oc- 
tober, 1819, the first boat was launched 
at Rome to run to Utica for passenger 
use. It was called the 'Chief Engi- 
neer;' was 61 feet long, seven and one- 
half feet wide; had two cabins, each 
14 feet long, with a flat deck between 
them, and was drawn by one horse. 
The next day [Oct. 23, 1819], the com- 
missioners and some of the most 
prominent citizens of Utica embarked 
there for the return trip to Rome and 
set off with a band playing, bells ring- 
ing, cannon thundering and thousands 
of spectators cheering from the banks. 

"On the 21st of July, 1820, tolls were 
first levied, the rates being fixed by 
the commissioners; the amovmt re- 
ceived that year [in the short stretch 
then in use] was over $5,000, taken by 
six collectors. The canal was used 
between Rome and Little Falls in the 
autumn of 1821, the contractor at the 
latter point availing himself of the 
unprofitable labors of the Inland Lock 
Navigation Co. (previously referred 
to) ; and the portion east to the Hud- 
son was under contract. Meanwhile 
the river floated the canal boats from 
Little Falls to Schenectady. The Mo- 
hawk valley, below the former point, 
was thoroughly explored under the su- 
pervision of Benjamin Wright, chief 
engineer, and the intended direct line. 



from Schenectady to the Hudson river 
near Albany, was abandoned in favor 
of the course of the Mohawk river 
[from Schenectady to Cohoes]. The 
accuracy of the engineering work on 
the line was considered wonderful, in 
view of the fact that the engineers, 
Wright and Geddes, had had no pre- 
vious experience of the kind, having 
been only land surveyors before their 
employment on this great work. 

"In the spring of 1823, the canal was 
open uninterruptedly from Sprakers 
[thus including most of the line 
through the five western towns of 
Montgomery county] to the western 
part of the state and in September 
following [Sept., 1823] the St. Johns- 
ville feeder was completed. The spot 
at the 'Nose,' however, was still un- 
finished, and, at that point, merchan- 
dise was transferred to river boats 
past the unfinished section. 

"In the latter stages of the great 
work unexpectedly rapid progress was 
made, its success being now assured, 
and on the 26th of October, 1825, the 
finishing touch had been given and 
the canal was thrown open to navi- 
gation throughout, by the admission 
of water from Lake Erie at Black 
Rock [Buffalo]. The length of the 
canal was 363 miles, and its initial 
cost $7,143,780.86. Its completion was 
celebrated with unbounded joy which 
found expression in extraordinary 
civic and military ceremonies, and all 
the festivities that a proud and happy 
commonwealth could invent. 

"On the morning of Oct. 26 [1825], 
the first flotilla of boats, bound fo** 
New York from Lake Erie, entered the 
canal at Buffalo carrying the Governor 
and Canal Commissioners [in the 
packet, 'Seneca Chief']. Their de- 
parture was the signal for the firing 
of the first of a large number of can- 
non stationed within hearing distance 
of each other along the whole line of 
the canal and the Hudson river and 
at Sandy Hook, by which the momen- 
tous news of the opening of through 
travel at Buffalo was announced at 
the Hook in an hour and twenty min- 
utes. One of the signal guns stationed 
at Sprakers Basin was fired by the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



203 



Revolutionary veteran Goshen Van 
Alstine [living on Canajoharie creek 
during the war]. The official voyagers 
were everywhere greeted with enthus- 
iastic demonstrations." 

In New York harbor Clinton poured 
water, carried from Lake Erie, into 
the waters of the Atlantic commem- 
orating thereby the joining of the two 
bodies by way of the Erie canal, and 
the great voyage was over. Sketches 
of canal scenery were stamped upon 
earthenware and various implements 
in commemoration of the great 
achievement. Albany was reached 
Nov. 2, 1825, where a great celebration 
took place. The gubernatorial party 
arrived at New York, Nov. 4, where 
was held a great public demonstration 
in celebration of the event: The trip 
from Buffalo to Albany had occupied 
seven days. 

"As at first constructed, the canal 
passed through instead of over the 
streams which it had to cross, espec- 
ially in the Mohawk valley, their 
waters being raised to its level as near 
as possible by means of dams. This 
gave a surplus of water in certain lo- 
calities, and afforded some fine milling 
privileges. One of this sort was fur- 
nished below Canajoharie creek, where 
John A. Ehle built a sawmill to avail 
himself of it. To carry the water 
through a stream of any size required, 
upon both shores of the latter, guard 
locks with gates, which could be closed 
during freshets. Considerable diffi- 
culty was frequently experienced at 
such places by a long string of boats 
accumulating on each side of the 
stream where, at times, they were de- 
layed for several days, during which 
their crews came to be on familiar and 
not always friendly terms. Such de- 
lays were sometimes caused by a 
freshet in the creek injuring the dam. 
The passage of the first boat across a 
creek, on the subsidence of high water, 
was a marked event, sometimes draw- 
ing a large crowd of people together 
to witness it. The first thing was to 
get the boat within the guard lock 
and close the gate behind it. Then 
with a strong team, sometimes dou- 
bled, the feat was undertaken [the 



horses traveling over on a towing 
bridge over the dam]. The greatest 
difficulty was experienced at Scho- 
harie creek, that being so large; and 
on the parting of a towline midway of 
the stream, in several instances, boats 
were borne by an aggravated current 
over the dam and into the river, occa- 
sionally with loss of life. In such cases 
the boats had to go to Schenectady 
before they could get back into the 
canal. The passenger packet boats 
had the precedence in passing locks, 
and it was readily conceded at creek 
crossings in freshet times." Such 
crossings were located on the Ots- 
quago at Fort Plain, on the Canajo- 
harie at Canajoharie, on Flat creek at 
Sprakers, and on Yatesville creek at 
Yatesville (now Randall). 

At the outset the canal was the 
fashionable avenue of western travel, 
as well as a highway of commerce. 
The packets were elegantly furnished, 
set excellent tables and far outstripped 
the freight boats in speed, by their 
comparative lightness and their three- 
horse teams. The canal accordingly 
furnished the natural route of Lafay- 
ette in his grand tour of this part of 
the country in 1825. At the crossing 
at Schoharie creek, Lafayette's packet 
was delayed and it was there boarded 
by Thomas Sammons who was engaged 
in boating on the Erie canal. When 
Marquis de Lafayettte was on a mili- 
tary errand at Johnstown, during the 
Revolution, he was there entertained 
by Jacob Sammons, a brother of 
Thomas, who had leased Johnson Hall 
from the Committee of Sequestration. 
Here Thomas Sammons had repeatedly 
met the French nobleman. In his 
cabin the Marquis greeted Sammons 
most cordially, asking after his 
Johnstown host (who had died since 
that time). The eminent Frenchman 
held the boat until his interview was 
ended, when Sammons and his son 
(who told this anecdote) stepped 
ashore both proud and happy over 
their courteous reception. Lafayette's 
packet was decorated with streamers 
and evergreens, even the harness of 
the horses bristling with flags. At all 
stops, locks and crossings, he was 



204 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



greeted by cheering crowds and we 
may well assume that such were pres- 
ent at the locks and creek crossings of 
western Montgomery county afore- 
mentioned. 

The canal early became taxed be- 
yond its capacity, and its enlargement 
became a necessity. By legislative act 
of May, 1835, the canal commissioners 
were authorized to make its enlarge- 
ment and to construct double locks as 
fast as they deemed advisable. Under 
this act the enlargement was begun 
and carried on, with more or less ac- 
tivity, for a quarter of a century be- 
fore it was completed throughout. In 
this reconstruction the canal was car- 
ried over the cross streams by aque- 
ducts. It was reduced in length to 350 
miles, and increased in breadth to 70 
feet at the surface and 52% feet at the 
bottom, while the depth of water was 
increased from four feet to seven feet. 
The cost of this enlargement was over 
$30,000,000. In 1896 and 1897, under 
an appropriation of $9,000,000, further 
enlargement was made. The water 
depth was increased (at least in part) 
to nine feet, and locks accommodating 
two boats were installed. From being 
the main central New York artery of 
freight traffic, commerce on the canal 
has dwindled to a small figure. 
Where formerly the docks of the canal 
towns were scenes of bustling activity 
they are now deserted. Such a state 
of affairs is due to the inability of the 
canal boats of 250 tons to suc- 
cessfully compete with the constantly 
increasing carrying capacity of the 
railroads. The railroads soon put the 
canal packets out of business but there 
are yet those who remember well this 
convenient, picturesque and pleasant 
(if somewhat slow) method of travel 
prior to the middle of the nineteenth 
century. Attention is called to Loss- 
ing's mention, in a later chapter of his 
trip by packet boat on the canal from 
Fort Plain to Fultonville in 1848. The 
Erie canal, particularly in its earlier 
years, was a favorite route of travel 
by emigrants going to the west. 

Down to 1866, the construction, en- 
largement and improvement of the 
Erie and Champlain canals (the latter 



requiring but a small part of the whole 
amount) had cost no less than $46,- 
018.234; the repairs and maintenance 
had cost $12,900,333, making a total 
expense of $58,918,567. On the other 
hand, the receipts for tolls on the Erie 
and Champlain canals had then 
amounted to $81,057,168, leaving a bal- 
ance in favor of these canals of $22,- 
138,601. The cost of other canals 
reduced the direct profit on the canal 
system of the state to a trifle, although 
the indirect profits have been enor- 
mous. 

Future readers will ask, "What was 
the motive power and manner of boat- 
ing on the old Erie canal?" The boats 
were at first drawn by one horse or 
mule. As they increased in size two 
or three horses or mules were used on 
one boat. The canal craft also went 
in pairs, threes and fours, sometimes 
two being lashed together and one or 
two others being in tow. These tows 
fre<juently had four horse or mule 
teams. Occasionally three or four 
boats went through towed by a tug. 
Steam canal boats have also been 
common. These generally formed the 
second boat of a pair, lashed bow and 
stern, and towed one or two others. 
Lake boats, which could journey from 
lake ports west of Buffalo through to 
New York, were seen in considerable 
numbers at times. Their use made 
the expense of breaking bulk at Buf- 
falo unnecessary. All these double 
boats had to be unlashed before enter- 
ing the locks, prior to the lock en- 
largement of the canal improvement 
of 1898. From Albany down these 
craft made the trip to New York in 
great tows or lashed flotillas, towed 
by one or two tugs. 

Accidents of various sorts on the 
Erie have been common — leaks and 
banks giving way forming the princi- 
pal source of trouble. Horses or mules 
frequently fell into the water, but were 
generally rescued. The canal banks 
were of riprap on the tow path side, 
except in towns where they were of 
stone. Here was generally located an 
incline up which horses were taken 
who had tumbled into the canal. 
Drownings were frequent about the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



205 



locks. One of the most remarkable ac- 
cidents on the canal occurred at Fort 
Plain in 1896, when an omnibus filled 
with passengers went through the 
River street bridge into the canal. All 
the people were rescued with great 
difficulty and the state was compelled 
to pay damages to a considerable 
amount. An iron lift bridge suceeded 
this weak structure, there being two 
located within the limits of Fort Plain. 

Canal grocery stores were a feature 
of the Erie in its prime, these being 
located near the locks. The Erie 
waterway has always provided occu- 
pation for a considerable number of 
people, along its route, they being em- 
ploj'ed as lock and bridge tenders, bank 
watches, state (repair) scow hands, 
etc. 

In western Montgomery county locks 
on the Erie canal are located at Min- 
denville, St. Johnsville, Fort Plain and 
Sprakers. At Mindenville also is lo- 
cated a feeder from the Mohawk river. 
On the northern limits of Fort Plain is 
what is generally called "the wide 
waters," a basin about a fifth of a mile 
long and over 100 feet wide. Bridges 
over the Erie canal average about one 
per mile. 

One of the features of Erie canal 
transportation, since the latter part of 
the nineteenth century, has been the 
transit, during the summer months, of 
pleasure boats running from the Hud- 
son river and southern and eastern 
points to the Thousand Islands and 
the Great Lakes. This has been a 
particularly large item of traffic since 
the introduction of the gasoline motor 
boat. The craft vary from a row-boat 
size to large yachts which test the ca- 
pacity of the locks. The trip through 
the Erie canal and the Mohawk valley 
has been a pleasing feature of summer 
outings to thousands of Americans 
from the country over. 

The Erie canal, after a life of al- 
most a century since its first boat ran 
from Rome to Utica, is soon to give 
way to the vastly more efficient Barge 
canal. What disposition will be made 
of its bed by the state of New York is 
not known. At this time it is inter- 
esting to recall the picture of the for- 



mer activity along its course, its pic- 
turesque packets and the bustle and 
life that it brought to the canal towns 
to which it gave birth. Those who love 
the scenery along the valley will soon 
miss from the view the twin courses of 
the Mohawk and the Erie canal wind- 
ing their glittering way through the 
landscape. 



The State Engineer's department 
has furnished the following regarding 
the Erie canal: The boats used on 
the Erie canal between 1817 and 1830 
measured 61x7x3% feet and had a ca- 
pacity of 30 tons. Between 1830 and 
1850 boats of 75x12x3 1^ feet were 
used. These had a capacity of 75 
tons. From 1850 to 1862 the boats 
were 90x15x3 1/^ feet in size and had a 
capacity of 100 tons. After 1862 the 
boats were increased to 98xl7%x6 
feet with a capacity of 240 tons. This 
is the boat still in use (1913). Until the 
Barge canal is completed boats of 
greater size cannot be used. 

The records of tonnage are not 
available prior to 1837. In that year 
the Erie canal carried 667,151 tons. In 
1850 the tonnage was 1,635,089. In 
1875 it was 2,787,226. Although the 
tonnage records do not go back of 1837 
the records of tolls collected are avail- 
able since 1820. In 1825 the amount 
collected on the Erie canal was $492,- 
664.23. In 1850 they were $2,933,125.93. 
In 1875 they were $1,428,078.25. Tolls 
were abolished on the canals in 1882, 
For several years prior to that date 
tolls had been decreased, although the 
amount of freight carried had increas- 
ed or remained about the same. The 
year 1880 was the season of greatest 
tonnage on the Erie canal, 4,608,651 
tons having been carried. In 1910 the 
tonnage was 2,023,185. 

The arbitrary selection of certain 
years does not give a very good idea 
of the growth of canal traffic. The 
records are contained in a convenient 
form for reference in a history of the 
canals which was published by the 
state a few years ago. It is entitled 
"History of the Canal System of the 
State of New York, together with 
Brief Histories of the Canals of the 



206 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



United States and Canada." At pages 
1062 and 1064 of the second volume of 
this work appears the tables from 
which the above is quoted. The reader 
is referred to this work for a fuller 
account of the state's waterways. 

In the foregoing paragraphs the 
tonnage of different years on the Erie 
is given among them that of 1910. The 
following gives the tonnage of the 
.principal canals of the world for the 
year 1910, with the exception that the 
figures for the Kaiser Wilhelm canal 
are those for 1909: . Sault Ste. Marie 
(between Lakes Superior and Huron), 
36,395,687; Suez, Mediterranean and 
Red Seas, 23,054,901; Kaiser Wilhelm 
(Baltic and North Seas, Germany), 6,- 
267,805; Manchester (England), 5,- 
000,000; Erie, 2,023,185. The import- 
ance of our American inland water- 
ways is easily seen by reference to the 
figures for the Sault Ste. Marie and 
the fact that its tonnage is fifty per 
cent greater than that great waterway 
of all the nations — the Suez canal. The 
Sault Ste. Marie is one of the links in 
the great chain of waterways of which 
the Barge canal will form a part. 

Following are the principal canals 
of New York, in the order of their 
completion together with statistics 
pertaining to each. Attention is called 
to their general low cost of construc- 
tion: 

Champlain (Whitehall, N. Y., to 
Watervliet, N. Y.), built 1822; length 
81 miles; locks, 32; depth, 6 feet; cost, 
$4,044,000. This was the second im- 
portant C9,nal completed in the United 
States. 

Erie (Albany, N. Y., to Buffalo, N. 
Y.), built 1825; length, 387 miles; locks, 
72; depth, 7 feet; cost, $52,540,800. The 
Erie is and has always been the most 
important canal of its type (aside 
from ship canals) in the world. 

Oswego (Oswego, N. Y., to Syracuse, 
N. Y.), built 1828; length, 38 miles; 
locks, 18; depth, 7 feet; cost $5,239,- 
526. 

Cayuga and Seneca (Montezuma, N. 
Y., to Cayuga and Seneca lakes, N. Y.), 
built, 1839; length 25 miles; locks, 11; 
depth, 7 feet; cost, $2,232,632. 

Black River (Rome, N. Y., to Lyons 



Falls, N. Y. Formerly boats went from 
the latter point to Carthage, N. Y., on 
the Black River), built, 1849; length, 
35 miles; locks, 109; depth, 4 feet; cost, 
$3,581,954. 

These waterwaj's have played a 
great part in the development of the 
country. Those of New York state 
were all part of one scheme of water 
transit and many of them are utilized 
in the Barge canal system. In this 
way they are and have been important 
to the dwellers in the Mohawk valley 
through which the Erie and the Barge 
canal flow. The future of transporta- 
tion lies largely in utilizing water- 
ways and the lines of the old canals 
hence deserve the attention of the 
reader. 



Following are statistics relative to 
some of the other important canals of 
North America, outside New York 
state. The general subject of water 
traffic is worthy of consideration as 
some of these old and abandoned 
canals may, in the future, form part of 
a North American great inland system 
of waterways, including those of New 
York state and the Mohawk valley. 

Lehigh (Coalport, Pa., to Easton, 
Pa.), built, 1821; length, 108 miles; 
first large American canal to be com- 
pleted. Schuylkill (Mill Creek, Pa., to 
Philadelphia, Pa.), built, 1826; length, 
108 miles. Welland (present ship 
canal from Lake Erie to Lake On- 
tario), first completed in 1833, since 
enlarged and further enlargement con- 
templated; length, 27 miles; locks, 26; 
depth, 14 feet; cost, $27,264,802. Miami 
and Erie (Cincinnati, O., to Toledo, 
O.), built, 1835; length, 274 miles. 
Ohio (Cleveland, O., to Portsmouth, 
O.), built, 1835; length, 317 miles. 
Pennsylvania (Columbia, Northum- 
berland, Wilkesbarre, Huntingdon, 
Pa.), built, 1839; length, 193 miles. 
Illinois and Michigan (Chicago, 111., to 
LaSalle, 111.), built, 1848; length, 102 
miles. Chesapeake and Ohio (Cum- 
berland, Md., to Washington, D. C), 
built, 1850; length, 184 miles. Illinois 
and Mississippi (around rapids at 
Rock River, 111., connecting with Mis- 
sissippi), built, 1895; length, 75 miles. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



207 



Celebrations of the opening of the 
Erie canal were not alone confined to 
the villages along its banks but were 
held in many enterprising communi- 
ties all over the state. The New York 
authorities ordered all the artillery of 
the state to be out on Oct. 26, and fire 
a salute and where villages had mili- 
tary organizations there was gener- 
ally some celebration or parade. 

At Cooperstown a splendid celebra- 
tion took place with Col. G. S. Crafts 
as marshal. Major Benjamin's corps 
of artillery fired a salute from the 
summit of Mount Vision. A feu-de- 
joie by Capt. Comstock's company of 
light infantry followed the salute, 
which was succeeded by proceedings 
in the Episcopal church where an ad- 
dress was delivered by Samuel Stark- 
weather, Esq. A public dinner was 
served at Major Griffith's hotel, where 
patriotic toasts washed the dinner 
down. 



At Fort Plain (then a village of not 
more than 200, including Sand Hill) 
the event of the opening of the Erie 
canal was fittingly observed. Says 
Simms: 

"The substantial citizens of the 
neighborhood assembled on the day 
[Oct. 26, 1825] of general festivities on 
the canal and celebrated the marked 
event. A long procession headed by 
Dr. G. S. Spalding as marshal and led 
with martial music marched from the 
public house of mine host, Joseph 
Wagner, to Sand Hill whe.re, near the 
church a six pound cannon heralded 
the event of the day [Clinton's enter- 
ing the canal at Buffalo] in thunder 
tones abroad. The patriotic crowd is 
said to have proceeded to the hill and 
back two and two, and it is probably 
well that some of them did so. A report 
of this celebration, published in the 
Johnstown 'Republican' soon after, 
says: 'An address with an appropri- 
ate prayer was pronounced in Wash- 
ington Hall [which was in an upper 
room of the Warner store] to a crowd- 
ed audience, by Rev. John Wack, who 
did much honor to his head and heart. 
After the address the company par- 
took of a collation prepared by Mr. 



Joseph Wagner. Dr. Joshua Webster 
acted as president and Robert Hall, 
Esq., as vice-president. The festivity 
of the day terminated with a ball in 
the evening.' 

"The sumptuous dinner at this first 
Wagner House (said Simeon Tingue, 
then its hotel clerk) was spread the 
entire length of the ball-room. This 
house stood on the north side of the 
guard lock, and is now owned by An- 
drew Dunn. After discussing the 
merits of a good dinner numerous 
toasts were washed down by good 
liquor, which as was soon apparent 
was freely used by all present. Re- 
membered among those at the table 
were several [by the name of] Fox, 
Gros, Wagner, Hackney, Marvin, Fer- 
guson, Adams, Cole, Belding, Mabee, 
Diefendorf, Crouse, Lipe, Dygert, Ehle, 
Nellis, Abeel, Seeber, Verplanck, Wash- 
burn, Moyer, Casler, Clum, Failing, 
Roof, Firman, Langdon, Warner, Cun- 
ning and others. A more jovial or 
free-from-care set of men were never 
assembled in Minden. Here is a glance 
at the toasts. First came thirteen 
regular toasts and the eleventh was 
as follows: "Constitution of the 
United States — 'And the rain descend- 
ed and the floods came and the winds 
blew and beat upon the house, and it 
fell not for it was founded upon a 
rock.' " Nine cheers. The twelfth was 
"Education" and drew out six cheers, 
while the thirteenth upon the "Canals 
of New York" was followed by twelve 
cheers. Of the nineteen good volun- 
teer toasts recorded, I think every 
mover but one has gone to his rest — 
the exception is Hon. Peter J. Wag- 
ner, now (1882) past 87; and here is 
his sentiment: "Liberty of the Press 
— The armed neutrality of a powerful 
Republic. Here no Harrington is de- 
nounced as a bloodstained ruffian — no 
Galileo doomed to languish and pine 
within the cells of an accursed Inqui- 
sition." Mr. Wagner had more to do 
with preparing the toasts than any 
other man. As the guests grew hilar- 
ious, W. P. M. Cole, a witty Yankee 
teacher, jumped upon the table, which 
was a temporary one resting upon 
sawhorses. Many dishes were yet 



208 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



upon the table when down it went and 
all on it upon the floor. And, after 
the guests left the hall, lucky was it 
if they all got home before dark. 

"It was expected that the boat 
[Seneca Chief, bearing Gov. Clinton 
and suite to tidewater] would arrive 
on the evening of Monday, October 31 
[1825], possibly heralded by stages, 
anticipating which event a large con- 
course of people gathered from a dis- 
tance of several miles around. Prep- 
arations had been made to proclaim 
the event by erecting two long poles 
on Prospect Hill, each with half a 
barrel of pitch on top with cords to 
hoist lighted shavings to ignite them. 
A cannon was also placed between 
them. To herald the event James A. 
Lee, a constable, was sent on horse- 
back to Countryman's lock, some miles 
above; and, to spread the tidings, two 
young men — Rugene Webster and Sol- 
omon Norton — were delegated to 
Abeel's tavern half a mile west, to 
'telegraph' with a musket from that 
point. Headquarters, were at the new 
store of Warner, then directly above 
the guard lock, the windows of which 
were illuminated. It was eleven o'clock 
at night when the mounted express 
reached Abeel's, where was also a jolly 
crowd. Norton fired the overloaded 
musket and experienced its fearful re- 
bound, to be followed by the thunder 
of the 32 pound signal gun. 

"In a very few minutes the beacons 
were on fire and war's mouthpiece on 
the hill heralded the approach of the 
Seneca Chief. Gov. Clinton — with a 
waiter by his side holding a lamp — as 
the boat, towed by three horses, ran in 
by the store, came on deck. Limping 
a little, rubbing his eyes and looking 
up at the light, seeming in the clouds, 
he exclaimed in admiration of the 
view, "My God! what is that?" His 
wonder was how the light could be 
burning so far heavenward. The truth 
was the night was dark and foggy, 
obscuring the bold bluff on which the 
light was burning more than a hun- 
dred feet above his boat — a scene cal- 
culated to astonish any beholder not 
knowing the circumstances. But the 
visit must be brief, and every eye of 



the hundreds present (whether Clin- 
tonians or not) desired to see the pro- 
jector of "Clinton's Ditch,' and some- 
body must say something. John Tay- 
lor, an Irish schoolmaster^sometimes 
witty and always garrulous — stepped 
upon the bow of the boat and said (not 
knowing what else to say) "Gov. Clin- 
ton, this is my friend, John Warner's 
store." Poor Tajior, in attempting to 
regain the shore, fell into the canal 
but * * * he was rescued without 
injury. Later in life it was his fate 
to be drowned in the canal. Law- 
rence Gros, who was just then com- 
mencing trade as a partner of War- 
ner in his new store, and Dr. Web- 
ster were possibly the only ones pres- 
ent who could claim a personal ac- 
quaintance with the Governor; and so 
desirous was Col. Crouse, and perhaps 
others, for an introduction to his Ex- 
cellency, that they stepped on board 
and, entering the cabin, rode down to 
the lock one-quarter of a mile below. 
It is presumed that the Governor dis- 
covered that some of his guests had, 
in waiting, kept their spirits up in a 
manner often resorted to at that per- 
iod. Martial music attended the boat 
down to the lock and, as the Fort 
Plain guests stepped on shore, the 
band struck up 'Yankee Doodle,' when 
Gov. Clinton, from the deck, swung 
the crowd an adieu with his hat, en- 
tered the cabin with Canal Commis- 
sioner Bouck and others, and the Sen- 
eca Chief moved forward." 



DeWitt Clinton, the "father" of the 
Erie canal and the virtual builder of 
"Clinton's Ditch," was born in Deer 
Park, Orange county, March 2, 1769. 
He was a son of Gen. James Clinton, 
of the Sullivan and Clinton expedi- 
tion to the Indian country in 1779, and 
who made Canajoharie his rendezvous 
in the Mohawk valley prior to his 
overland trip to join Sullivan. Gov. 
George Clinton (who was at least 
twice at Fort Plain) was his uncle. 
His mother's name was Mary DeWitt 
of the New York Dutch family of that 
name. He graduated at Columbia col- 
lege in New York city in 1786, studied 
law and in 1790 became private secre- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



209 



tary to his uncle, Gov. Clinton. He 
was "a man of ardent temperament, 
dignified manners, inclined to reserve 
and of noble personal appearance." 
He was elected as a Republican or 
Anti-Federalist to the New York as- 
sembly in 1797 and to the State Sen- 
ate in 1798, and soon became his 
party's most influential leader in New 
York. In 1801 he was elected to the 
United States Senate. In 1803 he was 
appointed by the Governor and coun- 
cil, Mayor of New York, which office 
he held, by successive reappointments, 
until 1814. He served as Lieutenant- 
Governor from 1811-1813 and in 1810 
was chairman of the canal board. In 
1812 he was nominated for President 
of the United States by the party op- 
posed to President Madison's war pol- 
icy, receiving 89 electoral votes (in- 
cluding those of New York), but was 
not elected. In 1815 he framed and 
presented to the state legislature a 
memorial advocating the construction 
of the Erie canal (which was ordered 
in 1817). He was elected governor of 
New York almost unanimously in 1817 
and in 1820 re-elected (over Daniel 
D. Tompkins), during his terms being 
president of the board of canal com- 
missioners. He declined a renomina- 
tion in 1822 and in 1824 was removed 
as a canal commissioner. In the fall 
of 1824 he was again elected governor 
by a large majority, making the trium- 
phal tour of the Erie canal in celebra- 
tion of its opening, October, 1825. He 
was re-elected in 1826 and died in Al- 
bany before completing his term, Feb. 
11, 1828, aged 58 years. 



CHAPTER XI. 

1831-1836— First Valley Railroads — 
The Mohawk and Hudson (1831), 
Utica and Schenectady (1836), New 
York Central (1853), New York Cen- 
tral and Hudson River Railroad 
(1869), Fonda, Johnstown and Giov- 
ersville (1870), West Shore Railroad 
(1883) — First Freight Business — 
Trolley Lines. 

This description of railroad building 
in this locality is the fifth chapter on 
transportation in the Mohawk valley. 



Prior ones have covered the subjects 
of Mohawk river traffic, turnpike con- 
struction and travel, river and other 
bridges and Erie canal. Others to fol- 
low, handling the same subject, con- 
cern the Barge canal and Atwood's St. 
Louis to New York flight — seven chap- 
ters in all. Turnpike construction 
marked the first years of the nineteenth 
century, canal construction was a fea- 
ture of the opening years of that cen- 
tury's third decade and railroad build- 
ing marked the early years of the 
fourth decade — all of these improve- 
ments in national transportation and 
traffic being rendered necessary by the 
opening up of new country, the in- 
crease in population^ trade, manufac- 
tures and agriculture. 

A steam railway engine was patented 
by Richard Trevithick in 1802 and 
1804 in England. This was tried out 
first on the highways but later used 
on colliery railways with a speed no 
greater than that of horse hauling. In 
1814 Stephenson produced an engine 
with a speed of six miles an hour. 
Railroad rails came into use on col- 
liery horse railways in 1790. The first 
steam colliery railroad of any length 
(37 miles) was the Stockton and Dar- 
lington railway opened in England in 
1825. The first American railway was 
that from the granite quarries of 
Quincy, Mass., to tidewater (5 miles), 
built to supply the granite for Bunker 
Hill monument. This was completed 
in 1827. The Delaware and Hudson 
built 16 miles of coal mine railway, to 
the head of its canal of that name, in 
1828. By 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio 
had 60 miles of a 250-mile railroad 
completed and the Mohawk and Hud- 
son had laid 12 miles of its 16-mile 
line from Albany to Schenectady. The 
South Carolina R. R., Camden and Am- 
boy, Ithaca and Owego and the Lex- 
ington and Ohio were all under con- 
struction in 1830. The Mohawk and 
Hudson was the first and the Utica and 
Schenectady the second link in the 
great railroad system operated at 
present (1913) by the New York Cen- 
tral railroad. Most of these early rail- 
roads used horse power at first. 

Within a decade or two after the 



210 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Erie canal was completed, and equip- 
ped with boats for passenger and 
freight trafflcj it was threatened with 
eclipse by the building of railroads. 
The first of these in New York state, 
to be chartered by the legislature, was 
the Mohawk and Hudson River Rail- 
road company, for a railroad to run 
from Albany to Schenectady. This was 
the pioneer railroad in the state and 
is said to have been the second of any 
importance in the country. It was fin- 
ished in 1831 and was rudely built and 
equipped. The rails were similar to 
those later used for horsecars, and at 
first horses furnished the only motive 
power, except that, at the summits of 
the higher hills, stationary engines 
were located to draw up and let down 
the cars by ropes. The passenger cars 
were modeled after the stage coach of 
the day, being hung on leather thor- 
ough-braces and having seats both in- 
side and out. A lever attached to the 
truck was operated by downward 
pressure as a brake. The first loco- 
motive (used in the first year of travel) 
was made at West Point, N. Y., and 
was named "Dewitt Clinton." This 
first engine used wood for fuel and, 
on its earlier trips, liberally besprinkled 
the outside passengers with live cin- 
ders, and they were often busy beating 
out the incipient fires thus started on 
their clothing. 

The advantages of steam railroads 
1)eing here practically seen, other 
lines were immediately projected and 
applications for charters made. 
Among them was the Utica and Sche- 
nectady, connecting those cities and 
covering a distance of about 80 miles. 
With its parent road, the Mohawk and 
Hudson, it made a line almost 100 miles 
long and so traversed the greater part 
of the Mohawk valley. 

In 1836 the Mohawk and Hudson 
railroad, from Albany to Schenectady, 
covered 15 of the 100 miles of railroad 
then in operation in this state. A 
contemporary writes, in 1836, of it and 
its extension (the Utica and Schenec- 
tady road then nearly completed), as 
follows: "This road, the importance 
of which entitles it to a conspicuous 
station among the many improvements 



of the age, is designed to form no in- 
considerable link in the extensive 
chain of communication between the 
western world and the tide waters of 
the Hudson. Passing through a coun- 
try famed for its fertility of soil and 
its exuberance of agricultural produc- 
tions, the route can scarcely fail of 
presenting some features to the con- 
templation of the most fastidious trav- 
eler. With the Mohawk river almost 
constantly in view, as it majestically 
sweeps onward in its course, confined 
on either side by a succession of lofty 
and precipitous hills, the eye of the 
amateur may frequently discern land- 
scapes comprising almost every var- 
iety of picturesque and scenic beauty." 
Says Beers's History of 1878: "It 
was not to be supposed that Schenec- 
tady would long remain the terminus 
of a road pointing up the Mohawk 
valley toward the growing west. En- 
terprising men soon resolved on its 
extension among the thriving villages 
created by the tide of westward emi- 
gration, and in 1833, a charter was 
granted for the construction of the 
Utica and Schenectady Railroad. The 
original capital of the company, $2,- 
000,000, more than sufficed for the 
building and equipment of the road, 
and the enterprise proved conspicuously 
successful. [It usurped the north 
shore Mohawk turnpike in places, 
which, in those sections, had to be re- 
constructed further away from the 
river.] The first board of directors 
consisted of Erastus Corning, John 
Townsend, Lewis Benedict, James 
Porter, Alonzo C. Page, Tobias A. 
Stoutenburgh, Nathaniel St Benton, 
Nicholas Deveraux, Henry Seymour, 
Alfred Munson, James Hooker, John 
Mason and Churchill C. Cambreling. 
Erastus Corning was first president; 
James Porter, secretary; William C. 
Young, chief engineer, and on the 
completion of the road superintendent; 
Gideon Davidson, commissioner. One 
of the provisions of the charter was 
that each county through which the 
road passed must be represented by 
one or more of its citizens on the 
board of directors. Under this regu- 
lation, Tobias A. Stoutenburgh was 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



211 



chosen from Montgomery county. The 
original charter also fixed the maxi- 
mum fare at four cents a mile, and re- 
quired the company to sell out to the 
state after ten and within fifteen years 
if the state desired to purchase. 

"The work of construction went on 
with rapidity,! and, on the 1st of Au- 
gust, 1836, the road was opened for the 
conveyance of passengers. That Au- 
gust day was an event in the, valley, 
both in itself and in its foreshadow- 
ings. The long excursion train was 
packed with delighted passengers, and 
each station furnished yet other 
crowds seeking places in the overflow- 
ing cars. The train made slow pro- 
gress, but eager and curious eyes 
watched the iron monster that puffed 
its murky breath and hissed through 
its brazen throat. 

"At this time the idea of carrying 
freight was not entertained. The 
charter forbade it, consequently no 
preparations for the transmission of 
merchandise had been made by the 
company. The desire of the superin- 
tendent seemed to be to confine the 
business of the road to the carrying 
of passengers. The occasion for 
handling freight, however, of course, 
arose on the closing of the canal in 
1836. On the very day that frost 
stopped navigation in that year, a 
German family, wishing to convey 
their effects from Palatine Bridge to 
Schenectady, were permitted to ship 
them on a car, and this, it may be said, 
was the beginning of the way freight 
business of the Central railroad. The 
conductor in this case, having no tar- 
iff of rates to guide him, made the 
rather exorbitant charge of $14. The 
legislature, in 1837^ authorized the 
company to carry freight and subse- 
quently made the regulation, allowing 
passengers to have a specified amount 
of baggage carried free of charge. The 
first freight cars were called 'stage 
wagons.' " [The modern T rail was 
invented by Col. Robert Stevens of 
New Jersey, in 1830. Steel rails were 
first used in 1857 in England. The first 
iron rails were but three feet long.] 

"Improvements were made in track 
and rolling stock at an early day in 



the history of the Utica and Schenec- 
tady road. We have said that the rails 
were originally like those of later 
street railroads — namely sticks of 
timber, with bands of iron, spiked 
upon them, called 'strap rails.' The 
irons had a tendency to work loose at 
the ends and turn up, forming what 
were called 'snake heads,' which were 
ready, on catching the bottom of a car, 
to spear the passengers or throw the 
train from the track. [Solid iron rails 
accordingly superseded them,] The 
first improvement in passenger cars 
consisted in building frame bodies, 
somewhat ornamented, and placing 
them on four-wheeled trucks. Each 
car was divided by partitions into 
three compartments, seating eight per- 
sons apiece and entered by a door on 
either side. The conductor traversed 
a plank running along the side of the 
car, and, holding on to an iron over 
the door of each section, reached in 
for the fare. [This arrangement was 
somewhat on the style of passenger 
coaches on English roads. In 1831 the 
first American style passenger coach 
(with doors at each end) was used and 
this style soon supplanted the En- 
glish type in North America.] 

"At first no time tables governed the 
running of the trains. One would 
leave Utica at a specified hour,, each 
week-day morning, and get to Sche- 
nectady when it could, returning on 
the same plan. For a long time, after 
the completion of the road, there were 
few station agents, and freight con- 
ductors had to hunt up patrons at 
each stopping place, where merchan- 
dise was to be left, and collect the 
charges. Freight trains ran about 
eight miles an hour, passenger trains 
about 20 or less. Time and experience 
gradually brought order and exactness 
into every department of the business 
on this line and it enjoyed unexampled 
prosperity. 

"In the spring of 1853, the legisla- 
ture passed an act for the consolida- 
tion of roads^ then in operation (and 
some only projected) between Albany 
and Buffalo, to form the New York 
Central. This was effected a few 
weeks later. The new company had a 



212 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



capital of $23,085,600. The Utica and 
Schenectady was, of course, one of 
the roads absorbed by it. One of the 
original directors, who remained as 
such up to the time of the consolida- 
tion, states that, at that time, 'the 
stock capital of the company was 
$4»500,000, on which the shareholders 
received 50 per cent premium in six 
per cent bonds of the consolidated 
company, equal at par to $2,475,000; 
and how much of the two-and-a-half 
millions increase was made up by 
extra dividends in the old company, 
and how much of the surplus has been 
and will be paid by the trustees to the 
shareholders of the company, I need 
not name to make good the assertion 
that the Utica and Schenectady Com- 
pany has turned out the most success- 
ful of modern railway enterprises.' 
The growth of business on this road is 
evidenced by the fact that its second 
track was laid before it became part 
of the New York Central. 

"The ambition of each railway mag- 
nate, as the actual and prospective 
greatness of the West became appar- 
ent, was the control of a through line 
from the seaboard which could make 
sure of its share of the transportation 
for the great grain regions and popu- 
lous cities so rapidly developing. Cor- 
nelius Vanderbilt's first step in this 
direction was the consolidation for 500 
years of the Hudson River Railroad 
with the New York Central, which 
took place under an act passed by the 
legislature in May, 1869, the line tak- 
ing the name of the New York Central 
and Hudson River Railroad. The im- 
mense business of the transportation 
of freight commanded by this road re- 
quired that its freight trains should 
have tracks to themselves, and made it 
at once necessary and profitable to 
double the already large capacity of 
the line from Buffalo to Albany, where 
much of its traffic was diverted to- 
ward New England. This was accom- 
plished by the construction of third 
and fourth tracks between those cities, 
which were completed in the autumn 
of 1874. 

"The almost incalculable advantages 
to be derived from railroad facilities 



are offered at their best to the inhab- 
itants of the Mohawk valley. The 
creation of points of sale and ship- 
ment for agricultural products in- 
creases the value of farm property, and 
Montgomery county everywhere shows 
in its rich, well-cultivated farms and 
fine buildings, the benefits of home 
markets and the highest facilities for 
transportation. The villages, which 
by the Central Railroad are placed 
within an hour and a half of Albany 
and six or seven of New York, are far 
more nearly equal to those cities in 
their advantages as homes than they 
could be without it,- while possessing 
their own class of attractions and thus 
are assured of a solid growth and de- 
velopment. To arrest or seriously de- 
lay the conveyance of what now 
comes and goes so promptly by mail 
and express would be to take away 
much of what constitutes civilization, 
and remand the community thus af- 
flicted to comparative barbarism." 

The first stations on the Mohawk 
and Schenectady Railroad, in the five 
western towns of Montgomery county, 
were located at Sprakers, Palatine 
Bridge-Canajoharie, Fort Plain, Pala- 
tine Church and St. Johnsville. That 
at Palatine Church was subsequently 
dropped. St. Johnsville was long an 
important station of the Central road, 
having a railroad restaurant and coal 
pockets. Little Falls was an import- 
ant point and Fonda also, as here con- 
nections were made north after 1870. 

The stations on the West Shore road 
in Montgomery county are in the east- 
ern part, Amsterdam, Fort Hunter, 
Fultonville, and in the five western 
towns are Randall, Sprakers, Canajo- 
harie. Fort Plain. St. Johnsville and 
Mindenville (flag station). The full 
list of stations on the Central in Mont- 
gomery county, from east to west, are 
Amsterdam, Fort Johnson, Tribes Hill, 
Fonda, Yosts, Sprakers, Palatine 
Bridge-Canajoharie, Fort Plain-Nel- 
liston, St. Johnsville. Some of the 
fastest trains in the world run over 
the Central. The passenger and freight 
service is enormous and a train is al- 
most always in sight from Prospect 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



213 



Hill, Fort Plain. The Central is one of 
the few four-track roads in the world. 
The building of the West Shore rail- 
road cut through and seriously in- 
jured the business section of Canajo- 
harie. Fort Plain was at first simi- 
larly threatened, as the original plans 
called for a railroad running along the 
east side of Canal street throughout 
the village. The most strenuous efforts 
of leading and influential Fort Plain 
citizens were required to bring about 
a change of plans in the early 80s, and 
the present course of the railroad, on 
the flats through the village limits a 
distance of a mile and a half, was 
adopted. The opening of the West 
Shore in 1883 was marked by a terri- 
ble collision of trains, with loss of life, 
at Diefendorf Hill, just west of Fort 
Plain. A local train, running west from 
Canajoharie to Syracuse in the morn- 
ing and returning in the evening, has 
been known as the Canajoharie local, 
almost since the inauguration of ser- 
vice over the road. 

The West Shore road and the Cen- 
tral entered into a fierce rate competi- 
tion, shortly before the West Shore's 
absorption by the Central, which 
brought the passenger rate down to a 
cent a mile for a short period. The 
passenger fare is now (1913) two cents 
per mile on both roads as it is gener- 
ally on most New York state railroads. 
Freight rates have shown a decline 
since the inauguration of freight ser- 
vice in the valley in 1836, as previously 
referred to. The average rate per ton 
per mile was 0.74 cents in 1891. The 
West Shore was bought by the Central 
about 1895 and is today (1913) used 
almost exclusively as a freight branch 
of the N. Y. C. & H. R. R.R. system. 
The passenger train service has been 
cut down to a few local and through 
trains daily, the north shore railroad, 
the Central, handling most of the 
passenger traflic. The West Shore 
takes its name from its occupancy of 
the west shore of the Hudson, the Cen- 
tral occupying the east shore. Through 
the Mohawk valley the West Shore 
R.R. follows the south shore of the 
Mohawk river and the Central the 
north bank. In the six miles from 



Canajoharie to Palatine Church the 
West Shore is truly on the west shore 
of the Mohawk, as the course of the 
river in that distance is generally 
northwest and southeast. The West 
Shore was built by Italian labor. As the 
Erie canal was largely dug by Irish- 
men, so it is probable that the Utica 
and Schenectady was constructed by 
that race as its construction followed 
the canal within fifteen years. 

The carrying capacity of both pas- 
senger coaches and freight cars has 
constantly increased together with the 
drawing power of the locomotives, 
since the first days of railroading. 
This was the cause of the gradual de- 
cline of canal business — the limited 
possibilities of transportation on this 
waterway finally being unable to meet 
railroad competition except on certain 
classes of freight. 

In the United States (1913) freight 
cars are 30 to 36 feet long, with two 
four-wheeled trucks, and weigh from 
20,000 lbs. to 30,000 lbs. and carry 40.- 
000 to 60,000 lbs., the combined weight 
of the larger cars and burden being 
45 tons. European freight cars' are 
only 12 to 18 feet long, with four 
wheels, weigh 11,000 to 18,000 lbs., and 
carry 18,000 to 23,000 lbs. Steel is now 
(1913) supplanting wood in the con- 
struction of both passenger and freight 
cars in the United States. This has 
been true of trolley car construction 
for a number of j'ears past. An in- 
teresting comparison is afforded by 
the fact that one 1,500 ton Barge canal 
barge will carry a load as large as 50 
biggest freight cars can haul. Tan- 
dem barges, or one 3,000 ton barge, 
will equal a 100-car train in carrying 
capacity. 

American locomotives and passen- 
ger cars are heavier and more power- 
ful than European types. European 
passenger cars are (1913) from 26 to 
56 feet long, while' the American ones 
are 80 feet long, in the largest cars, 
and are wider, higher and of generally 
stronger and heavier construction. 
Nine to twelve car American express 
trains weigh from 350 to 500 tons, 
while in Great Britain ten to fifteen 
car express trains weigh 270 tons at 



214 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the most. The heaviest New York 
Central locomotive (1913) weighs 135 
tons, with a "tractive effort" of 31,000 
pounds. The largest American loco- 
motive yet produced weighs 308 tons 
with a "tractive effort" of 111,000 
pounds. Passenger train speed on the 
Mohawk section of the Central has 
been registered exceeding 68 miles per 
hour. 

The railroad mileage of the United 
States was 2,816 in 1840, 30,600 in 1860 
and 177,753 in 1893, when the world's 
railroad mileage was 405,000. Half 
the railway mileage of the world is in 
North America, including the United 
States, Canada and Mexico. The 
United States's mileage was 240,000 in 
1910, of which 25,000 miles was in- 
cluded in the "Vanderbilt" or New 
York Central group of roads, the third 
largest system in the country. 

The building of the Fonda, Johns- 
town and Gloversville Railroad (1870) 
with extension to Northville (1875) 
and the construction of the West 
Shore railroad (finished 1883) com- 
pleted the construction of steam 
railroads at present operating within 
the limits of old (Fulton and) Mont- 
gomery county. The future usefulness 
of iron track railways, for local pas- 
senger and freight service, seems to lie 
in the electric trolley service and such 
a road is already in use between Sche- 
nectady, Amsterdam, Johnstown and 
Gloversville and Fonda, in the east end 
of the county, and one is projected, 
from Little Falls, via St. Johnsville, to 
Johnstown, with a spur connecting 
with Nelliston, Fort Plain and Cana- 
joharie, which will undoubtedly in 
time be continued down the valley 
making a connecting link in the elec- 
tric trolley line from Buffalo to New 
York city. Trolleys parallel the rail- 
roads in the Mohawk valley from Rome 
to Little Falls and from Fonda to Co- 
hoes. At Schenectady there are trol- 
ley connections with Albany and with 
the upper Hudson valley. 

A railroad through the Otsquago 
valley connecting the Mohawk valley 
at Fort Plain with the upper Susque- 
hanna valley at Richfield Springs and 
Cooperstown has long been projected. 



A meeting to promote this enterprise 
was held in Fort Plain as early as 
1828. The Fort Plain and Richfield 
Springs Railroad company was formed 
about 1885. Later Boston capitalists 
became interested, right of way was 
secured, and a roadbed was construct- 
ed over a large part of the line, begin- 
ning at the base of Prospect Hill, Fort 
Plain. The enterprise failed financially 
about 1895. At one time the project 
contemplated uniting the proposed 
railroads with the "dead ends" of rail- 
roads at Cooperstown, Cherry Valley 
and Richfield Springs. Connection be- 
tween the Mohawk and Susquehanna 
valleys was made about 1905 by the 
trolley line running from Herkimer 
through Mohawk and Richfield Springs 
to Oneonta with a branch to Coopers- 
town. 



One of the leading railroad men of 
the mid-nineteenth century was Web- 
ster Wagner of Palatine Bridge, whose 
name is closely associated with the 
early development of sleeping and 
drawing room railroad coaches. He 
was a member of the Palatine Wag- 
ner family which located about 1720 in 
Palatine township, on the farm now 
(1913) owned by Charles D. Smith, 
about two miles west of Fort Plain. 
Webster Wagner was born in 1817 at 
Palatine Bridge, where he became 
ticket and freight agent on the Schen- 
ectady and Utica railroad in 1843. He 
later handled grain and farm produce 
and while in this business, he con- 
ceived the idea of building sleeping 
cars. A company was formed and four 
cars were built at a cost of $3,200 each. 
Berths were provided for the sleep- 
ers, each having a pair of cheap blank- 
ets and a pillow. These cars began 
running on the New York Central, 
Sept. 1, 1858, during the presidency of 
Erastus Corning. Trouble with the 
ventilation of the cars hampered the 
success of the project at first. The 
ventilators, being opposite to the 
sleepers, made it dangerous to leave 
them open at night while, with them 
closed the air was suffocating. To ob- 
viate this trouble, in 1859, Mr. Wagner 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



215 



invented the elevated car roof, plac- 
ing ventilators in the elevation, which 
proved successful and greatly improv- 
ed the air in the coaches. This im- 
provement was shortly after generally 
adopted for all types of passenger rail- 
road cars. During the Civil war these 
sleeping coaches cost to produce from 
$18,000 to $24,000 each. In 1867, Wag- 
ner invented and put in operation his 
first drawing room or palace car, the 
first ever seen in America, which at 
once became so popular as to secure 
him a fortune. Wagner palace and 
sleeping cars came into general use. 
Pullman introduced a similar type into 
Europe, and about 1890, the Wagner 
and Pullman companies were consoli- 
dated under the name of the Pvillman 
company. In 1871, Webster Wagner 
was elected to the assembly and to the 
state senate in 1872, 1874, 1876, 1878. 
He met a tragic death in a terrible 
railroad accident on the Central road 
at Spuyten Duyvil in 1882, when he 
was burned to death in one of his own 
drawing room cars. Mr. Wagner's 
full name was John Webster AVagner, 
he being named after his father's 
physician, Dr. John Webster, accord- 
ing to Mason's History. 

The present chair, buffet, sleeping, 
combination, dining, and observation 
coaches of steel construction are all 
later developments of the original 
sleeping car first put in operation by 
Webster Wagner on the New York 
Central railroad in 1858. The first rude 
sleeping coach was run on the Cum- 
berland Valley Railroad (Pennsyl- 
vania) in 1836. 



CHAPTER XII. 
1836, Fonda Made County Seat of 
Montgomery County — New Court 
House Built at Fonda — Dissatisfac- 
tion in Northern Montgomery — 1838, 
Fulton County Created From North- 
ern Montgomery County. 
It must be rememliered that in all 
the foregoing reference to Montgom- 
ery county (up to 1838), it included 
Pulton county as well. This was in- 
deed a noble county and it is to be 
regretted that it was thus cut in two. 



This final division of Montgomery took 
place 222 years after LaCarnon, the 
French Canadian priest, first entered 
the Mohawk country, 149 years after 
Hendrick Frey made the first recorded 
white settlement in the county, and 
127 years after the Palatines located 
in Stone Arabia. The towns of the 
present county, including the five 
western ones of Minden, Canajoharie, 
Root, Palatine and St. Johnsville as- 
sumed their present territorial boun- 
daries (except Canajoharie and Min- 
den as later noted). A long period of 
development (from the ending of the 
Revolution) had been completed and 
the present day era was ushered in. 

Oid Montgomery county (including 
its northern region, present Fulton 
county, and its southern section, pres- 
ent Montgomery county) was a natural 
division of territory. It largely em- 
braced the Mohawk watershed from 
East .Creek to the Schenectady line, 
with the exception that it did not in- 
clude the Schoharie valley on the 
south. Prior to 1817, when the present 
towns of Danube and Manheim were 
taken from it and added to Herkimer 
county, western Montgomery county 
included the old Canajoharie country 
and its succeeding districts of Palatine 
and Canajoharie. 

In 1836 when the county seat was 
moved to Fonda from Johnstown the 
latter place had been the Montgomery 
capital for a period of 64 5'ears, dating 
from the establishment of Tryon 
county in 1772. So long in fact had 
these two artificial divisions, of what 
is naturally one region, been associated 
that we still speak of "Fulton and 
Montgomery county" as though they 
were yet one, and the two are often 
linked together in the consideration of 
history, politics, agriculture, industry 
and other phases of human life and 
society. 

This division was due to the fact 
that the county seat was removed to 
Caughnawaga (Fonda) in 1836 and the 
people of Fulton countj% resenting this, 
obtained the erection of the then 
Montgomery county into two separate 
divisions (Fulton and Montgomery) 
by act of the legislature in 1838; and 



216 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Johnstown again became a county 
seat — that of the new county of Fulton. 
This removal was the result of the 
building of the Utica and Schenectady 
railroad, which made the central town 
of Fonda very accessible to the other 
river towns of the county, while it left 
Johnstown three miles away and with- 
out railroad communication until the 
completion of the Fonda, Johnstown 
and Gloversville railroad in 1870. 
Other causes conduced to this change, 
in the governing town of the county, 
which resulted in the unfortunate dis- 
memberment of old Montgomery. 
Fonda took its name from the Fonda 
family, which largely owned the land 
upon which it was built. It was not 
then an incorporated village and did 
not become one until 1851. Regarding 
this subject, the Mohawk Valley Dem- 
ocrat (Fonda) published in its issue 
of August 15, 1912, the following from 
the pen of Washington Frothingham of 
the county seat: 

"Fonda is the only village in the 
Mohawk valley which originated in a 
land speculation. In 1835, or a little 
later, John B. Borst of Schoharie, vis- 
ited this neighborhood and planned a 
new place to supersede Caughnawaga 
and to become the capital of Mont-' 
gomery county. What is now Fonda 
consisted then of a tavern, a few 
houses, a fulling mill and a small store. 
The surrounding lands were owned by 
the Fonda family, which obtained a 
liberal price., [from Borst] The Cen- 
tral railroad (then only the Utica and 
Schenectady) was nearly finished and 
Borst gave it land for its station at 
his new village; but a bolder plan was 
to have the county seat removed from 
Johnstown. Only after a great effort 
he succeeded. He gave the plot 
known as 'the park' to the railroad 
company and also gave to the county 
the land occupied by the jail and court 
house, an area of four acres. Lots 
were offered at $50 to $100 and both 
houses and stores were built, and to 
boom the place, a grand hotel was 
erected. In this way Fonda, as they 
named the new settlement, was made 
the county capital and started with 
much promise. Yet, notwithstanding 



all their push, the scheme did not suc- 
ceed [financially] and Borst and his 
associates were bitterly disappointed. 
Johnstown was much distressed over 
the loss of the public buildings, but a 
new county [Fulton] was soon formed, 
and the records were all copied, down 
to the creation of Fulton county, so 
the loss was not deeply felt. The hard 
feelings of its loss have now passed 
away and the two places are now on 
better terms than ever being connected 
by two railroads and a macadam road." 

Prior to Borst's land scheme the vil- 
lage had existed in the Dutch hamlet 
of Caughnawaga, on the site of an 
Indian village. It is not improbable, 
prior to the boom of Johnstown 
caused by Sir William Johnson's re- 
moval there in 1762, that Caughna- 
waga may have been the largest center 
of white population in present Fulton- 
Montgomery county, little hamlet 
though it was. Prior to the Revolu- 
tion it was a center for public gath-> 
erings, for social intercourse, politics 
and sports — such as horse racing, a 
track being there located. Caughna- 
waga still exists as the eastern end of 
Fonda. 

Says Beers: "The projectors of the 
village of Fonda conceived that the 
prospects of their enterprise would 
be brightened by making the embryo 
city the capital of Montgomery county. 
A petition for the removal of the 
county buildings was accordingly pre- 
sented to the legislature in 1836. The 
immediate vicinity of the Mohawk was 
by this time so thickly inhabited that 
the old county seat was not central to 
the population of the county, and it 
was left comparatively out of the 
world by the construction of the Utica 
and Schenectady railroad. The peti- 
tion made a persuasive showing, on a 
statistical basis, of what proportion of 
the inhabitants would be accommo- 
dated by the proposed change; and an 
act authorizing the erection of a court 
house and jail at Fonda was passed 
during the session in which it was 
presented. The commissioners ap- 
pointed to locate the buildings and 
superintend construction were Aaron 
C. Wheelock, Henry Adams and How- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



217 



land Fish. The act required them to 
raise and pay into the treasury of the 
county $4,500, as a preliminary step, 
and procure a site of at least three 
acres for the new county buildings. 
The comptroller was authorized, on 
receiving a bond from the county 
treasurer, to loan the county the sum 
required [for the erection of the build- 
ings] from the common school fund, 
to be repaid at any time, or times 
(within five years), that the supervis- 
ors might decide upon. Under these 
arrangements, the court house and 
jail were built in 1836. The removal 
of the county seat from Johnstown 
was naturally very unsatisfactory to 
the northern portion of the county, and 
resulted in the division of Montgom- 
ery two years later." The old court 
house still stands and is a building 
possessed of a simple and pleasing 
exterior, in a somewhat classic style 
of architecture. A new court house 
has been erected in a locality removed 
from the noise of the Central trains 
which pass immediately in front of the 
older building. It is interesting to 
note in the foregoing that the change 
to Fonda and the building of the origi- 
nal Central railroad are coincident in 
point of time — 1836. 

In 1836, Montgomery county (then 
including Fulton) contained 585,000 
acres of land; the value of its real es- 
tate was $3,753,506 and the personal 
estate $647,899. The county taxes 
were $19,289.66 and the town taxes 
$13,023.00. 

There were then four academies in 
the county, located at Amsterdam, 
Kingsborough, Johnstown and Cana- 
joharie. The county contained 8 
woolen factories, 13 iron works, 5 
paper mills. 62 tanneries, 8 breweries, 
274 saw mills. 74 grist mills, 31 fulling 
mills, 29 carding machines, 4 oil mills. 

The following newspapers were is- 
sued: The Johnstown Herald, The 
Montgomery Republican, at Johns- 
town; The Northern Banner, at 
Broadalbin; The Intelligencer and 
Mohawk Advertiser, at Amsterdam; 
The Montgomery Argus, at Canajo- 
harie; The Fort Plain Journal, at Fort 
Plain; The Garland (semi-monthly) 



and the Christian Palladium (semi-, 
monthly), at Union Mills. 

The following are some of the of- 
ficials of Montgomery (including Ful- 
ton) county, in 1836, before its divi- 
sion: Elijah Wilcox, collector of canal 
tolls at Fultonville; John Livermore, 
one of the canal superintendents of 
repairs; David Spraker of Canajo- 
harie, one of the four senators from 
this, the fourth, district, embracing 
Saratoga, Washington, St. Lawrence 
and Montgomery counties; Henry V. 
Berry of Caughnawaga (Fonda), Jo- 
seph Blair of Mills' Corners, Jacob 
Johnson of Minaville, members of as- 
sembly; Abraham Morrell, David 
Spraker, masters and examiners in 
chancery; Abram Morrell, first judge 
of the court of common pleas; Samuel 
A. Gilbert, John Hand, Henry J. Diev- 
endorff, David F. Sacia, judges of the 
court of common pleas; Michael Ket- 
tle, Johnstown, sheriff; Tobias A. 
Stoutenburgh, Johnstown, surrogate; 
Charles McVean, Johnstown, district 
attornej^ Joseph Farmer, Johnstown, 
county treasurer; Matthias Bovee, 
Amsterdam, member of congress. Ben- 
edict Arnold of Amsterdam, was major 
general of the second division of cav- 
alry and Aaron C. Whitlock of Ephra- 
tah, brigadier general in the same di- 
vision of this branch of the state mi- 
litia. 

In the county there were 40 lawyers, 
44 physicians and 28 clergymen, not 
including the Methodists (for some 
reason not enumerated in the list from 
which this is taken). 

Since this division of 1838, the pres- 
ent ten towns of Montgomery have 
retained boundaries given them then, 
• with the exception of the subtraction 
of the Freysbush district from Cana- 
joharie and its addition to Minden in 
1849. This county dismemberment 
made the towns of Amsterdam, Mo- 
hawk and St. Johnsville very narrow 
in width from north to south, in some 
places their northern boundaries be- 
ing within two miles of the river and 
even a trifle less. The southside town- 
ships were, of course, in nowise af- 
fected. 

At this important period there were, 



218 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



in the county four villages — Johns- 
town, incorporated 1808; Canajoharie, 
incorporated 1829; Amsterdam, incor- 
porated 1830; Fort Plain, incorporated 
1832. The population of Johnstown 
was (1836) 1200 to 1500 and of Fort 
Plain about 400. No data exists on 
the population of the other two. 
Johnstown had 600 in 1802 and in 1844 
had 250 dwellings. In 1804 Amster- 
dam had 100, abovit equally divided 
between Dutch and other elements, 
and in 1813 it had 150. Its growth 
thereafter was very rapid, outstrip- 
ping the other villages in a few de- 
cades. Gloversville had a dozen houses 
in 1830. It was incorporated in 1851. 
Fultonville was incorporated in 1848; 
Fonda, in 1850 (probable population, 
400); St. Johnsville, 1857 (with a pop- 
ulation of 720). 

In 1836 the population of Montgom- 
ery county was almost entirely rural, 
as will be seen from the figures of vil- 
lage population then. Most of its peo- 
ple were located on the farms, and en- 
gaged in agriculture. 

So much for the noble old county of 
Montgomery, which had had an event- 
ful existence with Fulton as part of it 
for two-thirds of a century. From 
the Montgomerj^ county of 1784, em- 
bracing half the state, it finally as- 
sumed territorial borders which make 
it one of the smallest in area of New 
York's 62 counties. 



Mr. Frothingham, who wrote the 
foregoing concerning Fonda, is the 
well-known clergyman and writer of 
Fonda, now (1913) 92 years of age. He 
was a boy of four when flatboats, on 
the Mohawk, and huge freight wagons, 
on the Mohawk turnpike, still carried 
the bulk of the through freight 
through the valley, prior to the open- 



ing of the Erie canal in the fall of 
1825. He was a ^'outh of fifteen when 
the first railroad train ran in the val- 
ley and was a young man of seventeen 
when Fulton was sundered from 
Montgomery county. Mr. Frothing- 
ham has seen most of the changes 
which have taken place, in customs, 
life and transportation in this section 
from the early pioneer days. He 
edited Mason's History of Montgom- 
ery County, published in 1892, and has 
written much concerning valley his- 
torical matters. 



Fulton county was named from Rob- 
ert Fulton, whose success in promot- 
ing steam navigation was at that time 
(1838) still fresh in the public mem- 
ory. Robert Fulton was born at Little 
Britain, Lancaster county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1765. He became a minia- 
ture and portrait painter and practised 
his art in Philadelphia, New York and 
London. In England he turned his at- 
tention to inventing, producing sev- 
eral mechanical contrivances. At this 
time he became interested in canal 
navigation and improvement. Later 
in Paris he brought out a submarine 
torpedo boat, which was rejected for 
use by the French, British and United 
States governments. In 1803 Fulton 
built a steamboat on the Seine in 
Paris. In 1807 he launched the steam- 
boat Clermont on the Hudson in New 
York, which made a successful trip to 
Albany, and which may be said to 
have solved the problem of steam nav- 
igation. Fulton built many steam- 
boats, ferryboats, etc., and in 1814 con- 
structed the U. S. steamer, "Demolo- 
gos" (later called Fulton the First), 
which was the first war steamer built. 
Robert Fulton died in New York in 
1815, aged 50 years. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 

(THIRD SERIES 1838-1913) 



CHAPTER I. 

1838-1913 — Montgomery County, To- 
pography, Population and History — 
Farm Statistics and Amsterdam In- 
dustrial Statistics — Fulton County, 
Herkimer County and Mohawk Val- 
ley Statistics. 

The following or third series of 
chapters treats of Montgomery county 
and the middle Mohawk valley during 
the years from 1838 (the date of separ- 
ation of Fulton from Montgomery 
county) until the present day (1913): 

Montgomery county of today con- 
sists of the ten townships of Amster- 
dam, Mohawk, Palatine, St. Johnsville, 
Minden, Canajoharie, Root, Glen, 
Charleston, Florida. The towns along 
the north side of the- Mohawk river 
from east to west are Amsterdam, 
Mohawk, Palatine, St. Johnsville, while 
the south shore towns from east 
to west are Florida, Glen, Root, Cana- 
joharie, Minden. The town of 
Charleston is the only one in the 
county which does not abut on the 
river as it lies directly south of the 
town of Glen. Glen and Charleston 
lie on the west shore of the Schoharie 
creek while Florida is on the east side, 
these three towns being the ones in 
Montgomery along which this pictur- 
esque stream flows, finally emptying 
into the Mohawk at Fort Hunter be- 
tween the towns of Florida and Glen. 
The Schoharie is the chief tributary of 
the Mohawk. 

The important creeks in the county 
flowing into the Mohawk are, on the 
north shore beginning at the west: 
East Canada, at East Creek; Crum 
creek, one-half mile east of East 
Creek; Timmerman, at Upper St. 
Johnsville; Zimmerman's, at St. Johns- 



ville; Caroga, at Palatine Church; 
Knauderack, flowing through Schenck's 
Hollow, past the county home; Caya- 
dutta, at Fonda; Danoscara, at Tribes 
Hill; Kayaderosseras, at Fort John- 
son; Chuctanunda, at Amsterdam; 
Bvaskill, at Cranesville. 

From west to east, on the south 
shore, are the Otsquago, at Fort 
Plain; Canajoharie, at Canajoharie; 
Flat creek, at Sprakers; Yatesville 
creek, at Randall; Allston, at Stone 
Ridge; Auries, or Ochraqua, at Auries- 
ville; Schoharie, at Fort Hunter; 
South Chuctanunda, at Amsterdam 
(south side); Cowilla, opposite Cranes- 
ville. Persons interested in Montgom- 
ery, its life and history would do well 
to procure a map of the county. 

The boundaries of Montgomery 
county are north, Fulton; east, Sara- 
toga and Schenectady; south, Schenec- 
tady, Schoharie, Otsego; west, Herki- 
mer. 

In reference to its geology the fol- 
lowing is briefly summarized from 
Mason's: Gneiss is found in patches, 
its principal locality being near the 
Nose on the river. Resting upon it 
are heavy masses of calciferous sand- 
stone, mostly on the north side and 
trending northward into Fulton coun- 
ty. Next above the sandstone are the 
Black River and Trenton limestone, 
not important as surface rocks but 
furnishing valuable quarries of build- 
ing stone. Hudson river group slates 
and shales extend along the south side 
of the county and are found in a few 
places north of the river. Drift and 
boulders abound. A deep, rich, vege- 
table mould forms the soil of the 
alluvial plains or "flats" along the 
river. On the uplands is mostly a 
highly productive, sandy and gravelly 



220 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



loam. The land is generally adapted 
to agriculture and especially dairying, 
which forms a leading feature of 
Montgomery farm activities. Traces 
of coal, lead and silver are found in 
Montgomery county rocks. 

The country is one of rolling hills 
for the most part, although in some 
parts, back from the river, it is only 
gently undulating. Much of it is 
broken and somewhat precipitous in 
parts, particularly along the banks of 
the streams. The picturesque Cana- 
joharie creek gorge is a miniature can- 
yon with walls 100 feet high in places. 
There is much natural beauty through- 
out the county, which is to be ex- 
pected of a county 33 miles long and 
lying along the Mohawk, famed as 
traversing a most picturesque valley. 
There are beautiful falls on the Can- 
ajoharie, a mile south of the village of 
that name and on Flat creek, a mile 
south of Sprakers. There are sulphur 
springs in almost every township. 

The views from some of the hilltops 
are always extensive and often inspir- 
ing. From some heights foothills may 
be seen which lie at the edge of the 
great Adirondack forest, which also, 
at one time, covered Montgomery 
county extensively, with the exception 
of the vlaies or natural meadows. The 
following are the elevations of the 
highest points of land, above sea level 
•as given on the map issued by S. Con- 
over of Amsterdam: Minden, at 
Salt Springville, 986; Canajoharie, at 
Mapletown, 1213; Root, two miles 
southeast of Lykers, 1310; Glen, two 
miles south of Glen village, 1200; 
Charleston, Oak Ridge, near Oak 
Ridge settlement, 1446; Florida, two 
miles southwest of Minaville, 1203; 
Amsterdam, in the east central part, 
700; Mohawk, Van Deusen Hill, 1029; 
Palatine, Rickard's Hill in north part, 
1029; St. Johnsville, Getman hill on 
the north line in the east end, 1140. 
Oak Ridge, 1446 feet, in Charleston, is 
the highest point on the south side and 
also in Montgomery county. It is 11 
miles from the Mohawk. Getman Hill, 
1140 feet, in St. Johnsville township, is 
the highest northside point and is less 
than three miles from the river. Sub- 



tracting the, river bed sea elevations 
(302 feet at Fort Plain, 278 feet at 
Fonda and 267 feet at Amsterdam), 
will give the height of the hills above 
the Mohawk. The best and most char- 
acteristic valley views are to be ob- 
tained on the hills, back from the Mo- 
hawk river. 

The area of Montgomery county is 
about 385 square miles and the soil is 
in general fertile, that on the "flats" 
being a particularly rich loam. The 
43d parallel of north latitude cuts di- 
rectly through the center of St. Johns- 
ville and the county lies between the 
74th and 75th degree meridians west- 
ward from Greenwich, England, and 
2 and 3 degrees east of Washington. 
It is bounded on the north by Fulton, 
on the east by Saratoga and Schenec- 
tady, on the south by Schoharie and 
Otsego and on the west by Herkimer 
county. It is 33 miles long and 15 
miles wide at the point of the great- 
est breadth at Randall. Yosts is al- 
most exactly in its center lengthways. 

Aside from the ten towns, it con- 
tains the city of Amsterdam and the 
villages of Hagaman and Fort Johnson 
in Amsterdam town and the villages 
of Fonda in Mohawk town, Palatine 
Bridge and Nelliston in Palatine town, 
St. Johnsville in St. Johnsville town. 
Fort Plain in Minden town, Canajo- 
harie in Canajoharie town, Fultonville 
in Glen town. It also has the follow- 
ing unincorporated places or neighbor- 
hood centers: 

In Minden: — Mindenville, Minden, 
Hallsville, Brookmans Corners, Salt 
Springville, Freysbush. 

In Canajoharie: — Sprout Brook, Van 
Deusenville, Buel, Marshville, Ames, 
Waterville, Mapletown. 

In Root: — Sprakers, Randall, Flat 
Creek, Browns Hollow, Lykers, Cur- 
rytown, Rural Grove, Stone Ridge. 

In Glen: — Glen, Auriesville, Mill 
Point. 

In Charleston: — Charleston Four 
Corners, Charleston, Oak Ridge, Cary- 
town, Burtonsville. 

In Florida: — Fort Hunter, Minaville, 
Miller Corners, Scotch Bush, Scotch 
Church. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



221 



In Amsterdam: — Cranesville, Manny- 
Corners. 

In Mohawk: — Tribes Hill, Berry ville, 
Yosts. 

In Palatine: — McKinley, Stone Ara- 
bia Four Corners, Stone Arabia, Tliree 
Points, Wagners Hollow, Palatine 
Church. 

In St. Johnsville: — Upper St. Johns- 
ville. 

The following regards the civil gov- 
ernment of Montgomery, the same as 
that of other New York counties. It 
forms, of course, part of a state sena- 
torial and part of a national congres- 
sional district, their boundaries vary- 
ing at different times. It is an as- 
sembly district and is represented by 
one assemblyman at Albany. 

The strictly county officers, with 
their terms of office in years, are: 
Sheriff, 3; county judge, 6; surrogate, 
6; county clerk, 3; treasurer, 3; district 
attorney, 3; four coroners, 4; superin- 
tendent of poor, 3; two district school 
commissioners (one for five west towns 
and one for five east towns, exclusive 
of the city of Amsterdam), 3. A county 
highway superintendent, two commis- 
sioners of elections and a sealer of 
weights and measures are appointed 
by the board of supervisors. For lists 
of Montgomery county officers see 
Beer's History of Montgomery and 
Fulton Counties (1878) and Mason's 
History of Montgomery County (1892). 

The town officers are with their 
terms of office in years: Supervisor, 
2; town clerk, 2; four justices of peace, 
4; three assessors, 4; one or three 
highway superintendents, 2; overseer 
of poor, 2; collector, 2; three auditors, 
2; not more than five constables, 2; a 
board of health composed of the town 
board and a health officer (appointed). 

The usual village officers are presi- 
dent, board of trustees, boards of sewer 
and water commissioners, clerk, treas- 
urer, collector, police officers and street 
commissioner. 

The history of Montgomery county 
from 1838, the date of separation of 
Fulton and Montgomery counties, 
covers the Civil war period and is one 
of agricultural development and 



change, of the great increase and de- 
velopment of the villages and the 
county's city, Amsterdam, and the re- 
markable growth of manufacturing in- 
dustries in all the population centers 
of importance. Hops, which were long 
raised in the southern section of the 
Montgomery, are but little cultivated on 
account of the lack of reliability as to 
crop and because of the competition of 
the Pacific slope. The same is true of 
broom corn which was so long a prin- 
cipal crop on the river flatlands and 
which stimulated the building of 
broom factories in almost all the river 
towns. The county has also largely 
become a dairying section instead of 
one where general crops (and wheat 
largely) were raised 75 years ago. 
There is but little lumbering done as 
the available timber is largely gone 
and areas must be replanted to pro- 
tect the soil and the flow of the water- 
courses. Fruit growing is of increas- 
ing importance and much fine poultry 
is raised both for market and for 
breeding. Hay, oats and corn are the 
three most important crops. 

A large and interesting volume could 
be made of the present industries of 
old Montgomery (including present 
Fulton) county. To the north of us in 
Fulton there is lumbering and Glov- 
ersville (with Johnstown) is the glove 
manufacturing center of the United 
States. Amsterdam has carpet works 
of great size and capacity and "Am- 
sterdam rugs" are sold everywhere in 
enormous quantities. The same is true 
of many other county manufactures. 
Barkley's Geography of Montgomery 
County, published in 1892, gives the 
following as the natural and manu- 
factured products of Montgomery, to 
which additions have been made to 
bring the list up to date. 

Agricultural: — Cattle, horses, sheep, 
swine, wool, hides, lumber, butter, 
cheese, wheat, corn, oats, hay, rye, 
buckwheat, potatoes, flax, hops, beans, 
apples, pears, plums, grapes, honey, 
alfalfa, eggs, poultry, vegetables and 
garden truck. 

Mineral: — -Limestone, clay and sand. 
Lead ore in small quantities has been 
found on the banks of Flat creek in 



222 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Root, and gold, copper, zinc and lead 
had been obtained in non-payable 
amounts from the banks of East Can- 
ada creek in the town of St. Johnsville. 
Limestone is found in abundance in 
the towns or Amsterdam, Florida, Mo- 
hawk, Root, Canajoharie, Palatine and 
St. Johnsville. It was largely used for 
building in the earlier days and made 
handsome houses. 

The manufactures of 1913 by towns 
are as follows: 

Amsterdam town and city: — Carpets, 
rugs, knit goods, brooms, springs, lin- 
seed oil, boilers, paper boxes, silk, beer, 
malt, waterwheels, caskets, paper, 
cigars, clothing, soda water, bricks, 
wooden building material (sash, doors, 
blinds, etc.), lumber. 

Canajoharie: — Paper bags, food pro- 
ducts, beer, flour, feed, cider, wagons. 

Charleston: — Wagons, sleighs, flour, 
feed, cotton yarn, lumber, cider, wine. 

Florida: — Brooms, wagons, sleighs, 
cultivators, wine. 

Glen: — Silk goods, poultry coops, 
brooms, stoves, lumber, cider, water- 
wheels, castings, flour, feed. 

Minden: — Knit goods, paper boxes, 
furniture, broom machinery, flour, 
feed, cider, pickles, hose bands, wag- 
ons, silk goods, toy wagons, cabinets, 
corn buskers, milk products, broom- 
bands, cigars. 

Mohawk: — Knit goods, paper, wag- 
ons, soda water, flour, feed, tile, cider. 

Palatine:— Condensed milk, candy, 
milk products, straw board, vinegar, 
cider. 

Root: — Wagons, lumber, cider. 

St. Johnsville: — Agricultural ma- 
chinery, threshing machines, pianos, 
piano actions, fifth wheels, wagons, 
sleighs, knit goods, condensed milk, 
carriage forgings, cider, flour, feed, 
lumber, bricks, piano players. 

The chief events in the history of 
Montgomery county of the period be- 
ing considered are: 1838, division of 
Montgomery and Fulton counties; en- 
largement of the Erie canal, begun in 
1835; formation of Montgomery County 
Agricultural society, 1844; Civil war 
and enlistment of Montgomery county 
men, 1861-5; completion Fonda, Johns- 
town and Gloversville railroad, 1870; 



West Shore railroad completed, 1883; 
Amsterdam becomes a city, 1885; elec- 
tric road connects Schenectady, Am- 
sterdam, Fonda, Johnstown and Glov- 
ersville, 1905; commencement of Barge 
canal work, 1905; electric power plant 
established at Ephratah, using waters 
of Pecks Pond and Garoga lakes and 
transmission line run to Fort Plain, 
1911; 1911, Atwood's aeroplane flight 
through the Mohawk valley on his St. 
Louis to New York air trip. He landed 
at Nelliston and remained over night 
at Fort Plain. 

An agricultural fair was held in old 
Montgomery county at Johnstown, as 
early as Oct. 12, 1819, by a society or- 
ganized in that year. Fairs have been 
held in most of the years succeeding 
this date. In 1865, the Fulton County 
Agricultural society bought 18 acres 
near Johnstown for a permanent fair- 
ground. In recent years the fair has 
been discontinued and the grounds 
sold for building lots. 

The growth of agricultural societies, 
as relating to Montgomery, finds a 
fitting place here. There are two of 
these in the county, the Montgomery 
County Agricultural society, holding 
annual fall exhibitions and races at 
Fonda on its fair grounds, and the 
Fort Plain Street Fair association 
(mentioned elsewhere) holding an an- 
nual September fair on the brick pave- 
ments of Fort Plain. 

In 1793 the Society for the Promo- 
tion of Agriculture, Arts and Manu- 
factures was established, and in 1801 
this body, for convenience of action, 
divided the state into agricultural dis- 
tricts, each consisting of a county. A 
secretary was appointed in each dis- 
trict, whose duties were to convene the 
members of the society within the 
county, learn the state of agriculture 
and manufactures therein and report 
to the president of the society. Shortly 
after this time, premiums were offered 
for the best specimens of home made 
cloth, and were awarded partly by the 
general authority of the society and 
partly by county judges appointed by 
it. By an act of legislature, in 1819, 
for the improvement of agriculture, a 
board of officers was created and an 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



223 



appropriation made for two years, 
which was to be distributed among 
the different counties of the state for 
the advancement of agriculture and 
domestic manufactures, on the condi- 
tion that the counties themselves sub- 
scribed an equal sum, but this was 
carried out but little by the counties 
and no permanent result came of it. 
The present State Agricultural society 
was formed in 1832. No state appro- 
priation was made for it until 1841, 
when measures were taken for raising 
funds and holding annual fairs. In the 
spring of 1841, $40,000 was appropri- 
ated, partly to the state society and 
partly for division among the counties 
in proportion to their representation 
in the assembly. 

It was under this act that the Mont- 
gomery County Agricultural society 
was organized. Pursuant to a notice 
by the county clerk, a meeting was 
held Sept. 20, 1844, at the Fonda court 
house. The committee on nominations 
reported the following, which were 
adopted: President, Tunis I. Van De- 
veer; vice-presidents, Joshua Reed, 
Peter H. Fonda; secretary, John Frey; 
treasurer, John Nellis; board of direc- 
tors, Amsterdam, Benedict Arnold; 
Charleston, Robert Baird; Canajoharie, 
Jeremiah Gardner; Florida, Lawrence 
Servoss; Glen, Richard Hudson; Min- 
den, Barney Becker; Mohawk, Lyndes 
Jones; Palatine, William Snell; Root, 
George Spraker; St. Johnsville, John 
Y. Edwards. A committee was ap- 
pointed to draft a constitution and re- 
port it at a subsequent meeting, which 
all desirous to promote the interests of 
agriculture, manufactures and rural 
arts, were earnestly invited to attend. 

Oct. 13, 1844, the organization was 
completed and arrangements made for 
the first fair which was held at the 
court house, Nov. 11, 12, 1844. The re- 
ceipts came to $471,50 and the expenses 
$462. The fair was held at the court 
house for the three following years 
(1844, 1845, 1846), the annual receipts 
averaging about $250. In 1847 the fair 
was held in Canajoharie. The next 
four were held at the court house in 
Fonda, the tenth (in 1853) at Fort 
Plain, in St. Johnsville in 1854 and at 



Canajoharie in 1855. Since then it has 
been held annually at Fonda, that 
place having been fixed upon as . the 
permanent locality in 1863. In 1860 
the constitution and by-laws were 
adopted, the officers to be a president, 
two vice-presidents, a secretary and a 
treasurer, an executive committee of 
three, a board of directors consisting 
of three members from each town of 
the county. All of the officials' terms 
were one year. Membership for one 
year was put at 50 cents and persons 
could become life members on pay- 
ment of $10. The annual meeting is 
held on the evening of the first day of 
the fair and officers are then elected to 
become active the following New Year. 

In 1863 the society purchased its 
present grounds in Fonda, a field of 
13 acres, formerly belonging to the 
Van Home family. The fair of 1864 
was held on these new grounds and 
proved the most successful up to that 
date, the receipts being over $2,000 — 
double those of any previous year. In 
1872 further buildings were put up and 
other improvements effected. In 1876, 
the grandstand was built, and, as it 
was centennial year, an unusually at- 
tractive show was made in all depart- 
ments and a great variety of sports 
and races took place. The receipts 
were $3,800. A street carnival feature 
has since been added to the "Fonda 
fair." There are many other agricul- 
tural societies in the county, formed 
for social or business purposes. 

Montgomery county, like every other 
section of the country, suffered terribly 
from the Civil war. Its men responded 
in numbers to the call to arms and 
hundreds lie buried on southern battle- 
fields or in the burial grounds of their 
home neighborhoods. A dreadful sor- 
row filled the valley and houses were 
numbeiiess where a father, husband or 
son had gone to the front never to re- 
turn alive. 

The completion of the Fonda, Johns- 
town and Gloversville railroad in 1870 
was a county event of importance. In 
1875 it was extended to Northville. 

The construction of the West Shore 
railroad (completed 1883) proved a 
great stimulus to Montgomery towns 



224 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



on the south shore. It has stations at 
Amsterdam, Fort Hunter, Auriesville, 
Fultonville, Randall, Sprakers, Cana- 
joharie, Fort Plain, Mindenville. For 
a time there was great competition be- 
tween the two roads and the new 
West Shore (so named from running 
on the west side of the Hudson) made 
business very lively. The competition 
resulted in a cut rate of one cent a 
mile which prevailed for awhile 
through the valley. The West Shore 
finally failed and was absorbed by the 
New York Central and is now used 
principally as a freight route. 

The following newspapers are pub- 
lished in Montgomery county: Am- 
sterdam Recorder, Amsterdam Sentinel, 
Mohawk Valley (Fonda) Democrat, 
Montgomery County Republican (Ful- 
tonville), Canajoharie Radii, Canajo- 
harie Courier, Hay Trade Journal 
(Canajoharie), Fort Plain Standard, 
Mohawk Valley Register (Fort Plain), 
Fort Plain Free Press, St. Johnsville 
News, St. Johnsville Enterprise. 

The following newspapers are pub- 
lished in Fulton county: Gloversville 
Herald, Gloversville Leader, Johns- 
town Democrat. 

The Mohawk valley has been the 
scene of considerable change in its 
population, although not to the same 
extent as other parts of the United 
States of America. The rural popula- 
tion of Montgomery and parts of Ful- 
ton is probably largely identical with 
that of a century ago and it is prob- 
able that much of this farm population 
is no greater in certain localities than 
in 1812, and in some sections even less. 
It is in the cities and towns that the 
greatest population changes have oc- 
curred and these largely coincide with 
the conglomerate urban people of the 
rest of the United States. In the val- 
ley, however, there is generally a sub- 
stratum of the original white popula- 
tion in the cities and larger villages. 
With the exception of the city of Am- 
sterdam the county of Montgomery has 
a population throughout very similar to 
that here present in the early part of 
the nineteenth century or before the 
division of Montgomery and Fulton 
counties in 1838. This is largely due 



to the fact that there has been no 
great incentive to immigration into 
the county since then, with the excep- 
tion of the industrial opportunities of- 
fered by the east end city. It is prob- 
able that certain early elements which 
came into the valley after the Revolu- 
tion have largely decreased — such as 
the New England, which we read of so 
largely at that time and whose rest- 
lessness (its greatest weakness) in- 
duced these Yankees to again take up 
a western hegira. The early men of 
this region not only largely developed 
it but have themselves scattered all 
over the country and Mohawk valley 
names may now be found from the Mo- 
hawk river to San Francisco bay. New 
York city had, for a number of years, 
a Montgomery County society, which 
numbered 200 members and held an- 
nual dinners. 

The valley has witnessed and partic- 
ipated in that great urban growth and 
development which was a leading 
characteristic of national life in the 
nineteenth century. This has not only 
brought in un-American peoples but 
has, by its indoor life and sedentary 
work, markedly depreciated the vigor 
of the original Mohawk valley stock. 

Recent years in Montgomery county 
have been marked principally by the 
great development of manufactures, 
highway improvements, electric trolley 
road building, utilization and trans- 
mission of electric power, free rural 
mail delivery, city and village improve- 
ment, and the construction of the 
Barge canal which is to replace the 
Erie. 

It has been a peaceful time, broken 
only by the Spanish war of 1898 which 
called to the service a few men of 
Montgomery. In a general way, it is 
the industrial development, the solu- 
tion of social and economic problems, 
the improvement of rural communica- 
tion, the development of rural life and 
the improvement in agriculture which 
immediately concern the people of 
Montgomery county. 

The towns along the Mohawk, in- 
cluding those in Montgomery county, 
are so situated that it is probable they 
will experience a gradual but sure 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



225 



growth into cities, some of consider- 
able size. Their location on the Barge 
canal and two lines of railroad is the 
main cause of this development, com- 
bined with their situation in a rich 
agricultural territory with foodstuffs 
raised at their very doors and serving 
as markets for the farming country for 
miles around. The gradual growth of 
these Mohawk river centers has been 
largely composed of the original pop- 
ulation and without a great access of 
an undesirable foreign element. There 
have been exceptions to this rule, but 
it is to be hoped that such conditions 
will prevail, thereby avoiding many of 
the evils which have followed the un- 
desirable and rapid growth of cities 
in other sections of the country. The 
development of Schenectady, from the 
quiet Dutch town of 1880, with a popu- 
lation of less than 15,000, to the great 
manufacturing center of 1910 with 
72,000 people, has been the one marked 
exception to the gradual growth of 
the other river towns. In a lesser way 
the building up of Amsterdam in the 
same period, is also noteworthy. Its 
population of 31,267 in 1910 made it the 
third city, in point of size in the Mo- 
hawk valley and was more than half 
of the Montgomery county population 
of 57,567. Amsterdam's growth is en- 
tirely responsible for the increase of 
the county's population in recent 
years and it is probable that the rest 
of Montgomery's population has de- 
creased in the past fifty years. With 
the growing demand for foodstuffs 
and their increasing price, a growth 
in the agricultural population can be 
looked for, particularly in sections so 
favorably situated as to markets and 
transportation as the townships im- 
mediately adjacent to the Mohawk 
river. So that with growing towns and 
demand for agricultural products, com- 
bined with the good land available, it 
is reasonable to suppose the already 
large Mohawk valley population will 
be much greater in the years to come 
— a population which may easily com- 
prise a million people in time. This is, 
of course, provided that the water sup- 
ply of the valley is conserved by refor- 
estation, dams, etc. No section can 



grow beyond its water supply. The 
rainfall of the Mohawk basin has been 
steadily decreasing for a century. 



The area of Montgomery county is 
254,720 acres. That of Fulton county 
is 330,240 acres. The area of old Mont- 
gomery county, which included these 
divisions prior to 1838, was 584,960 
acres. Root is the largest town of 
Montgomery county and St. Johnsville 
is the smallest. With the figures at 
hand it is impossible to give the area 
of each township. Root, Florida and 
Minden are the three largest towns. 
However the size of townships or 
counties means little as they are only 
imaginary divisions. 

The census department at Washing- 
ton has kindly furnished figures for 
this work relative to the population of 
Montgomery county. In 1790 the pop- 
ulation of Montgomery was 18,261. In 
1850 (after the detachment of Ftilton 
county) the population was 31,992; 
1860, 30,866; 1870, 34,457; 1880, 38,315; 
1890, 45,699; 1900, 47,488; 1910, 57,567. 

The 1910 population by towns is as 
follows: Amsterdam, including Am- 
sterdam city, 34,341; Canajoharie, 3,- 
889; Charleston, 900; Florida, 1,904; 
Glen, 2,002; Minden, 4,645; Mohawk, 
2,488; Palatine, 2,517; Root, 1,512; St. 
Johnsville, 3,369. 

The populations of the villages and 
city are as follows: Amsterdam city, 
31,267; Fort Plain, 2,762; St. Johnsville, 
2,536; Canajoharie, 2,273; Fonda, 1,100; 
Hagaman, 875; Fultonville, 812; Nel- 
liston, 737; Fort Johnson (incorporated 
1909, formerly Akin), 600; Palatine 
Bridge, 392. 

The incorporation of the villages of 
Montgomery county took place as fol- 
lows: Canajoharie, 1829; Amsterdam, 
1830; Fort Plain, 1832; Fultonville, 
1848; Fonda, 1850; St. Johnsville, 1857. 
Since the latter date the villages of 
Hagaman, Palatine Bridge, Nelliston 
and Fort Johnson have been incor- 
porated. 

There are several population centers 
in the county which include two or 
more incorporated or unincorporated 
places. With the bes* census figures 
and estimates at hand the total popu- 



226 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



lation of these centers, which virtually 
form single communities, are as fol- 
lows: Amsterdam - Hagaman - Fort 
Johnson-Rockton, 33,792; Fort Hunter- 
Tribes Hill, 1,000; Fonda-Fultonville, 
1,912; Canajoharie-Palatine Bridge, 
2,665; Fort Plain-Nelliston, 3,499 

The variation of population in the 
different townships is shown in the 
following figures. From a study of 
these it is shown that the rural popu- 
lation has steadily declined since 1850 
while the towns have increased. While 
the decline of the number of people in 
the agricultural sections seems to be 
still going on, it is not probable that 
it will long continue. On the other 
hand an increase of the farming popu- 
lation may be looked for in the future. 
The town populations by censuses fol- 
low: 

Amsterdam, 1850, 4,128; 1880, 11,170; 
1910 (including Amsterdam city, ex- 
cept the south side fifth ward in the 
town of Florida, formerly Port Jack- 
son), 31,962. 

Canajoharie, 1850, 4,097; 1880, 4,294; 
1910, 3,889. 

Charleston, 1850, 2,216; 1880, 1,334; 
1910, 900. 

Florida, 1850, 3,571; 1880, 3,249; 1910, 
(including former Port Jackson village, 
or Amsterdam city fifth ward), 4,283. 

Glen, 1850, 3,043; 1880, 2,622; 1910, 
2,002. 

Minden, 1850, 4,623; 1880, 5,100; 1910, 
4,645. 

Mohawk, 1850, 3,095; 1880, 2,943; 
1910, 2,488. 

Palatine, 1850, 2,856; 1880, 2,786; 
1910, 2,517. 

Root, 1850, 2,736; 1880, 2,275; 1910, 
1,512. 

St. Johnsville, 1850, 1,627; 1880, 2,002; 
1910, 3,369. 

According to the foregoing every 
town in the county has lost in popula- 
tion, from 1850 to 1910, except Amster- 
dam and St. Johnsville. 

The census of 1910 places the popu- 
lation of Montgomery county at 57,567 
and that of Fulton county at 44,534. 
The combined population of Fulton 
and Montgomery counties is 102,091. 
The total number of farms in the two 
counties is 4,221, with a total agricul- 



tural production valued at $6,707,681 in 
1909. The combined value of goods 
manufactured in Montgomery and 
Fulton counties in 1909 is roughly es- 
timated at $50,000,000. 



For this work it is impossible to ob- 
tain figures of manufactures, as relat- 
ing to New York state, by counties so 
details regarding such production is 
lacking for Montgomery and Fulton 
counties. The number of all farms in 
Montgomery county in 1910 was 2,189 
as against 2,407 in 1900. In Fulton 
county there were 1,932 farms in 1910 
and 2,234 in 1900. 

The following interesting informa- 
tion regarding the condition of agri- 
culture in Montgomery county is fur- 
nished by the census of 1910: 

Population (1910), 57,567; population 
in 1900, 47,488. 

Number of all farms, 2,189; number 
of all farms in 1900, 2,407. 

Color and nativity of farmers — Na- 
tive white, 1,883; foreign-born white, 
306. 

Number of farms, classified by size — 
Under 3 acres, 17; 3 to 9 acres, 148; 10 
to 19 acres, 126; 20 to 49 acres, 191; 50 
to 99 acres, 514; 100 to 174 acres, 888; 
175 to 259 acres, 249; 260 to 499 acres, 
52; 500 to 999 acres, 3; 1,000 acres and 
over, 1. 

Land and farm area — Approximate 
land area, 254,720 acres; land in farms, 
234,041 acres; land in farms in 1900, 
236,934 acres; improved land in farms, 
195,262 acres; improved land in farms 
in 1900, 202,394 acres; woodland in 
farms, 25,002 acres; other unimproved 
land in farms, 13,777 acres; per cent of 
land area in farms, 91.9; per cent of 
farm land improved, 83.4; average 
acres per farm, 106.9; average improv- 
ed acres per farm, 89.2. 

Value of farm property — All farm 
propertj% $15,460,547; all farm property 
in 1900, $12,929,081; per cent increase, 
1900-1910, 19.6; land, $6,303,804; land 
in 1900, $5,941,600; buildings, $5,517,979; 
buildings in 1900, $4,608,840; imple- 
ments and machinery, $1,120,835; im- 
plements, etc., in 1900, $769,990; do- 
mestic animals, poultry and bees, $2,- 
517,929; domestic animals, etc., in 
1900, $1,608,651. 

Per cent of value of all property in — 
Land, 40.8; buildings, 35.7; imple- 
ments and machinery, 7.2; domestic 
animals, poultry and bees, 16.3. 

Average values — All property per 
farm, $7,063; land and buildings per 
farm, $5,401; land per acre, $26.93; 
land per acre in 1900, $25.08. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



227 



Domestic animals (farms and 
ranges) — Farms reporting domestic 
animals, 2,099; value of domestic ani- 
maiS, $2,399,736. 

Cattle — Total number, 36,537; dairy 
COWS, 22,804; other cows, 1,640; year- 
ling heifers, 3,629; calves, 6,725; year- 
ling steers and bulls 1,134; other steers 
and bulls, 605; value, $1,234,434. 

Horses — Total number, 7,639; ma- 
ture horses, 7,221; yearling colts, 327; 
spring colts, 91; value, $1,065,093. 

Mules — Total number, 5; mature 
mules, 4; yearling colts, 1; value, $655. 

Swine — Total number, 9,098; mature 
hogs, 4,944; spring pigs, 4,154; value, 
$74,709. 

Sheep — Total number, 3,902; rams, 
ewes and wethers, 2,108; spring lambs, 
1,794; value, $24,746. 

Goats — Number, 21; value, $99. 

Poultry and Bees — Number of poul- 
try of all kinds, 143,302; value, $102,- 
959; number of colonies of bees, 3,615; 
value, $15,234. 

Number, acreage and value of farms 
classified by tenure, color and nativity 
of farmers and mortgage debt by coun- 
ties: April 15, 1910: 

Farms operated by owners— Number 
of farms, 1,446; number of farms in 
1900, 1,550; per cent of all farms, 66.1; 
per cent of all farms in 1900, 64.4; land 
in farms, 139,760 acres; improved land 
in farms, 115,923 acres; value of land 
and buildings, $7,117,522. Degree of 
ownership: Farms consisting of own- 
ed land only, 1,341; farms consisting of 
owned and hired land, 105. Color and 
nativity of owners: Native white, 1,- 
226; foreign-born white, 220. 

Farms operated by tenants — Number 
of farms, 719; number of farms in 
1900, 819; per cent of all farms, 32.8; 
per cent of all farms in 1900, 34.0; land 
in farms, 89,673 acres; improved land 
in farms, 75,378 acres; value of land 
and buildings, $4,347,361. Form of ten- 
ancy: Share tenants, 458; share-cash 
tenants, 12; cash tenants, 241; tenure 
not specified, 8. Color and nativity of 
tenants: Native white, 635; foreign- 
born white, 84. 

Farms operated by managers — Num- 
ber of farms, 24; number of farms in 
1900, 38; land in farms. 4,608 acres; 
improved land in farms, 3,961 acres; 
value of land and buildings, $356,900. 

Mortgage debt reports — B^or all 
farms operated by owners: Number 
free from mortgage debt, 849; number 
with mortgage debt, 588; number with 
no mortgage report, 9. For farms 
consisting of owned land only: Num- 
ber reporting debt and amount, 506; 
value of their land and buildings, $2,- 
268,987; amount of mortgage debt, 
$878,719; per cent of value of land and 
buildings, 38.7. 

I^ive stock products (1909) — Dairy 
products: Dairy cows on farms re- 



porting dairy products, 22,128; dairy 
cows on farms reporting milk produc- 
ed, 19,314; milk produced, 11,123,057 
gallons; milk sold, 10,288,208 gallons; 
cream sold, 3,377 gallons; butter fat 
sold, 449,839 pounds; butter produced, 
236,592 pounds; butter sold, 155,301 
pounds; cheese produced, 950 pounds; 
cheese sold, 900 pounds; value of dairy 
products, excluding home use of milk 
and cream, $1,299,769; receipts from 
sale of dairy products, $1,277,634. 
Poultry products: Number of poultry 
raised, 159,955; number of poultry 
sold, 64,106; eggs produced, 916,984 
dozens; eggs sold, 651,515 dozens; 
value of poultry and eggs produced, 
$315,758; receipts from sale of poultry 
and eggs, $199,250. Honey and wax: 
Honey produced, 123,366 pounds; wax 
produced, 1,478 pounds; value of honey 
and wax produced, $13,759. Wool, 
mohair and goat hair: Wool, number 
fleeces shorn, 1,685; mohair and goat 
hair, number fleeces shorn, 8; value of 
wool and mohair produced, $3,185. 

Domestic animals sold or slaughter- 
ed (1909) — Calves, number sold or 
slaughtered, 16,515; other cattle, num- 
ber sold or slaughtered, 4,442; number 
horses, mules and asses and burros 
sold, 352; number swine sold or 
slaughtered, 1,582; receipts from sale 
of animals, $265,270; value of animals 
slaughtered, $156,419. 

Value of all crops and principal 
classes thereof and acreage and pro- 
duction of principal crops, 1909: 

Value of all crops, $2,673,527; cer- 
eals, $756,512; other grains and seeds, 
$3,078; hay and forage, $1,433,171; veg- 
etables, $204,201; fruits and nuts, $101,- 
027; all other crops, $175,538. 

Selected crops — Cereals: Total, 42,- 
071 acres; 1,282,282 bushels. Corn, 10,- 
003 acres; 398,357 bushels. Oats, 25,- 
507 acres; 726,120 bushels. Wheat, 312 
acres; 7,893 bushels. Barley, 284 
acres; 7,233 bushels. Buckwheat, 5,470 
acres; 133,434 bushels. Rye, 486 acres; 
8,967 bushels. Other grains: Dry 
peas, 21 acres; 422 bushels. Dry edi- 
ble beans, 103 acres; 875 bushels. Hay 
and forage, 86,409 acres; 130,173 tons. 
All tame or cultivated grasses, 82,109 
acres; 94,?777 tons. Timothy alone, 
23,867 acres; 26,937 tons. Timothy 
and clover, mixed. 51,322 acres; 58,529 
tons. Clover alone, 5,411 acres; 6,951 
tons. Alfalfa, 201 acres; 490 tons. 
Millet or Hungarian grass, 289 acres; 
572 tons. Other tame or cultivated 
grasses, 1.019 acres; 1,298 tons. Wild, 
salt or prairie grasses, 10 acres; 10 
tons. Grains cut green, 92 acres; 131 
tons. Coarse forage, 4,198 acres; 35,- 
253 tons. Root forage, 2 tons. Special 
crops: Potatoes, 2,007 acres; 193.644 
bushels. All other vegetables, 1,021 
acres. Hops, 209 acres; 148,329 
pounds. Number maple trees, 9,470; 



228 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



maple sugar made, 294 pounds; maple 
syrup made, 2,941 gallons. 

Fruits and Nuts — Orchard fruits: 
Total number trees, 97,906; 140,105 
bushels. Apples, 77,804 trees; 131,264 
bushels. Peaches and nectarines, 309 
trees; 226 bushels. Pears, 5,159 trees; 
2,742 bushels. Piums and prunes, 9,001 
trees; 4,411 bushels. Cherries, 5,561 
trees; 1,447 bushels. Quinces, 37 trees; 
4 bushels. Grapes 8,612 vines; 81,787 
pounds. Small fruits: Total, 89 
acres; 117,489 quarts. Strawberries, 21 
acres; 45,515 quarts. Raspberries and 
loganberries, 38 acres; 45,454 quarts. 
Nuts, 2,700 trees; 42,530 pounds. 

Selected farm expenses and receipts, 
1909: 

Labor: Farms reporting, 1,659; cash 
expended, $372,973; rent and board 
furnished, .$153,487. Fertilizer: Farms 
reporting, 868; amount expended, $32,- 
960. Feed: Farms reporting, 1,378; 
amount expended, $184,083. Receipts 
from sale of feedable crops, $411,442. 

Number and value of domestic ani- 
mals not on farms April 15, 1910: 

Inclosures reporting domestic ani- 
mals, 1,182; value of domestic animals, 
$387,155. Cattle: Total number, 210; 
value, $8,999; number of dairy cows, 
154. Horses: Total number, 2,103; 
value, $371,169; number of mature 
horses, 2,089. Mules and asses and 
burros: Total number, 19; value, $4,- 
420; number of mature mules, 18. 
Swine: Total number, 241; value, 
$2,409. Sheep and goats: Total num- 
ber, 19; value, $158. 

The total value of all the products 
of Montgomery county farms, includ- 
ing dairy, poultry, eggs, honey and 
wax, wool, domestic animals sold and 
slaughtered, and all crops (exclusive 
of lumber) was $4,727,687 in 1909. 

While the census statistics of manu- 
factures for the counties of New York 
state are not available, those for its 
cities of over 10,000 population are 
given. Of the class of (41) cities, be- 
tween ten and fifty thousand inhabi- 
tants, Amsterdam leads in the number 
of its people engaged in industry — 
10,776. It has 97 industrial establish- 
ments and produced $22,449,000 worth 
of manufactures in 1909 against $10,- 
643,000 in 1899, or an increase of over 
100 per cent in ten years. 

It is probable that the t.tal manu- 
factures of Montgomery county exceed 
$28,000,000 annually. 



The following figures are given rela- 
tive to Fulton county's agricultural in- 
terests. They will form an interesting 
table in comparison with the first one 
published relative to Montgomery, 
whose farming statistics are given in 
full. It has been the aim, in this work, 
to still consider Fulton and Montgom- 
ery counties (old Montgomery county) 
as one civil section. The Fulton county 
farming figures follow: 

Population, 44,534; population in 
1900, 42,842. 

Number of all farms, 1,932; number 
of all farms in 1900, 2,234. 

Color and nativity of farmers: Na- 
tive white, 1,795; foreign-born white, 
134; negro and other non-white, 3. 

Number of farms, classified by size: 
Under 3 acres, 12; 3 to 9 acres, 101; 10 
to 19 acres, 122; 20 to 49 acres, 305; 50 
to 99 acres, 514; 100 to 174 acres, 628; 
175 to 259 acres, 179; 260 to 499 acres, 
60; 500 to 999 acres, 3; 1,000 acres and 
over, 8. 

Land and farm area^Approximate 
land area, 330,240 acres; land in farms, 
205,845 acres; land in farms in 1900, 
208.687 acres; improved land in farms, 
98,781 acres; improved land in farms 
in 1900, 115,213 acres; woodland in 
farms, 69,219 acres; other unimproved 
land in farms, 37,845 acres; per cent 
of land area in farms, 62.3; per cent of 
farm land improved, 48.0; average 
acres per farm, 106.5; average im- 
proved acres per farm, 51.1. 

Value of farm property — All farm 
property, $6,808,265; all farm -property 
in 1900, $5,834,750; per cent increase, 
1900-1910, 16.7; land, $2,659,010; land 
in 1900, $2,603,800; buildings, $2,549,- 
545; buildings in 1900, $2,066,850; im- 
plements and machinery $465,742; im- 
plements, etc., in 1900, $331,420; do- 
mestic animals, poultry and bees, $1,- 
133,968; domestic animals, etc., in 1900, 
$832,680. 

Per cent of value of all property in — 
Land, 39.1; buildings, 37.4; imple- 
ments and machinery, 6.8; domestic 
animals, poultry and bees, 16.7. 

Average values — All property per 
farm. $3,524; land and buildings per 
farm, $2,696; land per acre, $12.92; 
land per acre in 1900, $12.48. 

Domestic animals (farms and 
ranges) — Farms reporting domestic 
animals. 1,741; value of domestic ani- 
mals, $1,079,357. 

Cattle — Total number, 16,096; dairy 
cows, 9,835; other cows. 990; yearling 
heifers, 1608; calves, 2,896; yearling 
steers and bulls, 385; other steers and 
bulls, 382; value $486,396. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



229 



Horses — Total number. 4,064; ma- 
ture horses, 3,851; yearling colts, 198; 
spring colts, 15; value, $543,860. 

Mules — Total number, 8; mature 
mules, 7; yearling colts, 1; value, 
$1,735. 

Asses and burros — Number, 2; value, 
$425. 

Swine — Total number, 4,344; ma- 
ture hogs, 2,519; spring pigs, 1.825; 
value, $38,471. 

Sheep — Total number, 2,027; rams, 
ewes and wethers. 1,290; spring lambs, 
737; value, $8,413. 

Goats — Number, 15; value, $57. 

Poultry and Bees: Number of poul- 
try of all kinds, 67,193; vakie, $49,239; 
number of colonies of bees. 1,265; 
value, $5,372. 

Fulton county's farms produced in 
1909, products of the following value: 
Dairy products, $437,818; poultry and 
eggs, $150,387; honey and wax, $3,169; 
wool and mohair, $1,542; domestic ani- 
mals sold, $96,404; domestic animals 
slaughtered, $89,873; all crops, $1,200,- 
801. Total value of Fulton county 
farm production for 1909 (exclusive of 
lumber), $1,979,994. 

Fulton county has the city of Glov- 
ersville (first incorporated as a village 
in 1851), with a population (1910) of 
20,642, and the city of Johnstown (first 
incorporated as a village in 1808). with 
a population (1910) of 10,447. They 
are so closely joined that they may 
justly be considered one population 
center of over 31,000. Northville (pop- 
ulation,- 1,130) and Mayfleld (popula- 
tion, 509) are the two other incorpor- 
ated places of Fulton county. 

Gloversville has 6,604 persons en- 
gaged in industry (mostly glovemak- 
ing), 187 establishments, with products 
of a value, for 1909, of $14,171,000, a 
great increase over 1899 when ap- 
proximately $9,000,000 of manufactures 
were produced. Johnstown has 3,009 
persons engaged in industry (largely 
glovemaking), 138 establishments and 
a manufactured product, for 1909, of 
$6,574,000 against approximately $5,- 
000,000 in 1899. Johnstown and Glov- 
ersville together, produced $20,745,000 
worth of goods in 1909. which included 
practically all the manufactures of 
Fulton county. 



Population, 56,356. Number of 
farms, 1910, 3,092. Number of farms, 
1900, 3,227. Native white farmers, 
2,769. Foreign born farmers, 322. 

Land area, 933,760 acres, farm lands 
(acres), 371,969. Improved farm lands, 
258,595. Farm woodland, 76,385. Other 
unimproved farm land, 36,989. 

Value of domestic animals, $3,631,- 
865. Cattle, 64,914. Dairy cows, 40,423. 
Horses. 8,213. Swine, 9,754. Sheep, 
2,957. Poultry, 134,528. Colonies of 
bees, 2,179. 

Value of dairy products, $2,199,633. 
Value of poultry and eggs, $290,047. 
Value of honey and wax, $8,976. Value 
of cut of wool and mohair, $2,825. Re- 
ceipts from sale of animals, $467,399. 
Value of animals slaughtered. $176,655. 
Value of all crops produced, $2,847,042. 
Total 1909 farm production of Herki- 
mer county (lumber excluded), $5,992,- 
577. 

Herkimer county is the leading dairy 
county of the Mohawk valley in pro- 
portion to its improved farm acreage, 
although Oneida county with an acre- 
age of 800,000 and 6,929 farms, leads in 
total value of all dairy and other farm 
products, and is therefore the first (in 
1910) agricultural county of the six 
Mohawk valley counties. 

Herkimer county has one city. Little 
Falls (incorporated 1895), with a pop- 
ulation of 12,273. It has 4,211 persons 
engaged in industry in 55 establish- 
ments and in 1909 produced $8,460,000 
worth of manufactures. Herkimer 
county has the important sister villages 
of Herkimer, Mohawk, Ilion and 
Frankfort (virtually one community, 
with a population of about 20,000) and 
the lively village of Dolgeville, in the 
town of Manheim on East creek. The 
total manufacturing product value 
yearly for Herkimer county may ex- 
ceed $25,000,000. 



Following is a brief resume of 1909 
agricultural statistics for Herkimer 
county: 



Let us turn from the dry bones of 
these statistics to a charming view of 
the farming country of Montgomery 
and the valley of the Mohawk. It is 
from the pen of Mrs. A. D. Smith and 
formed part of a sketch published in 
the Fultonville Republican, Dec. 5, 
1912, entitled "A Ramble — Visit to a 
Colonial House." The building de- 



230 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



scribed is the frame house erected in 
1743 by John Butler, father of the no- 
torious Walter Butler of Revolutionary 
infamy, located about a mile north- 
east of Fonda. The prelude to the 
sketch mentioned is here reproduced: 
"On one of the recent Indian sum- 
mer days we chanced to walk over 
Switzer hill, turning our glances back- 
ward now and then to take in the re- 
markable panorama to the south — the 
distant hills, bathed in azure, the broad 
meadows, the populous settlements, the 
cattle grazing, the husbandman bend- 
ing over his plow, the historic Mo- 
hawk moving, in its sinuous pathway, 
on toward the ocean, the mystical au- 
tumn light over the rare scene. Close 
at one side was the ravine with bab- 
bling brook; the great pines to our 
right, sighing and moaning, making 
music all the day. Charmed with the 
beauties of the sc6ne, in our heart we 
uttered a silent prayer and thereby 
were refreshed from within as well as 
from without. We saw on every hand 
preparations for the winter season, the 
golden risks of corn, the barrels of 
ruddy apples, great piles of cabbages, 
golden pumpkins, casks of sweet cider, 
fresh from the mill, flocks of chickens, 
broods of turkeys ready to be sacri- 
ficed for the national feast. And we 
said, fortunate the man who lives 
much in the open, close to nature, 
breathes the pure air and works with 
the mystical forces of the earth with 
God as an ally. The farmer learns a 
powerful lesson in faith and strength." 



According to the United States cen- 
sus of J910, the six Mohawk valley 
counties comprise an area of 2,861,440 
acres divided as follows: Oneida, 
800,000; Herkimer, 933,760; Montgom- 
ery, 254,720; Fulton, 330,240; Schenec- 
tady, 131,840; Schoharie, 410,880. It 
is estimated that this area of the Mo- 
hawk valley counties was divided in 
1910, about as follows: Improved farm 
land, 1,350,000 acres; unimproved farm 
land, 260,000 acres; town sites, 100,- 
000 acres; waste land or land occupied 
by industries, railroads, etc., outside 
towns, 100,000 acres; forest and farm 



woodland, 1,050,000 acres. In these six 
counties were 18,457 farms, on which 
there were 14,034 operating owners, the 
remainder being leased. There was a 
marked decrease in farms in all these 
six Mohawk counties from 1900 to 
1910, and there was a similar decrease 
in acreage of improved farm land in all 
the six counties except Oneida. In the 
six counties combined the improved 
farm land acreage decreased from 
1,515,745 acres in 1900 to 1,351,461 
acres in 1910, showing that much land 
is reverting to widerness. Most of 
the farm lands are fertile — the Mo- 
hawk flats being reputed to be among 
the richest lands of the world. Dairy- 
ing is the leading agricultural indus- 
try. Hops are grown to a lessening 
extent in the southern watershed and 
poultry, fruits and market gardening 
are increasingly important farm fea- 
tures of the valley. 

The six Mohawk valley counties 
have the following population: One- 
ida, 154,157; Herkimer, 56,356; Mont- 
gomery, 57,567; Fulton, 44,534; Schen- 
ectady, 88,235; Schoharie, 23,855. To- 
tal, 424,704 (census, 1910). That of 
New York state (1910), was 9,113,614, 
so that the population of the Mohawk 
watershed counties was, in 1910, .0467 
of that of the state or a little less than 
one-twentieth. 

The towns are located almost ex- 
clusively on the Mohawk river; 310,- 
000 of the 425,000 population of the 
watershed being so located in centers 
of 1,000 and over; in centers of from 
250 to 1,000, 35.000; farm population, 
80,000. A large part of this population 
is descended from the pre-Revolution- 
ary Dutch, German and British set- 
tlers of the Mohawk basin. At the 
beginning of the Revolution the popu- 
lation of the Mohawk valley was about 
20,000 whites and 1,000 or more Iro- 
quois. 

Seventeen towns, of over 1,000 pop- 
ulation, line the Mohawk, from its 
30uce to its outlet into the Hudson. On 
its tributary streams are seven more, 
making twenty-four in the Mohawk 
watershed. From the source of the 
Mohawk to Rome (a distance of 
twenty miles), the largest town is 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



231 



West Leyden with 600 population. 
According to the census of 1910, the 
population of the towns mentioned, 
from Rome eastward, was as follows: 
Rome, 20,497; Oriskany, 1,200; Water- 
ville on Oriskany creek, 1,410; Clinton, 
on Oriskany creek, 1,236, Whitesboro, 
2,375; New Hartford, 1,195, and New 
York Mills, on Saquoit creek, 2,600; 
Utica, 74,419; Frankfort, 3,303; Ilion, 
6,588; Mohawk, 2,079; Herkimer, 7,520; 
Little Falls, 12,273; Dolgeville, on East 
Canada creek, 2,685; St. Johnsville, 
2,536; Fort Plain, 2,762; Canajoharie, 
2,273; Fonda, 1,100; on the Cayadutta, 
Johnstown, 10,447; Glov^rsville, 20,642; 
on the Schoharie, Cobleskill, 2,086; 
Middleburg, 1,114; Amsterdam, 31,267; 
Scotia, 2.957; Schenectady, 72,826; Co- 
hoes, 24,709. A great variety of manu- 
factures is produced in these centers, 
most of which are strictly manufac- 
turing towns, although all are more or 
less, centers of trade for their tributary 
agriculture districts. 

Manufacturing was generally begun 
in the valley population centers from 
50 to 100 years ago. Their industries 
comprise a great range of goods, some 
of which have long been made in the 
valley and are identified with its 
growth. The knit goods industry is 
the leading one. Some of the other 
Mohawk valley manufactures are white 
goods, arms, typewriters, woodwork, 
house and office furniture, dairy ma- 
chinery and goods, agricultural ma- 
chinery, piano actions, paper bags, 
broom machinery and articles, food 
products, milk products, gloves, car- 
pets and rugs, locomotives, electrical 
machinery and manufactured goods, 
paints, oils, varnishes, wagons, flour, 
feed, lumber, paper. 



CHAPTER II. 
1848 — Trip of Benson J. Lossing from 
Currytown to Sharon Springs, to 
Cherry Valley, to Fort Plain — Revo- 
lutionary Scenes and People Then 
Living. 

Benson J. Lossing has the following 
account of a trip in 1848 around about 
Fort Plain, published in his "Pictorial 
Field Book of the Revolution" (1850), 



in which he covers thoroughly the 
Revolutionary news, happenings and 
personages of the Mohawk valley. 
Much of this volume was gathered 
while the author was visiting around 
and in Fort Plain, which he made his 
headquarters for gathering data. The 
condensed Revolutionary biographies 
in this work were largely compiled or 
taken from the Field Book. It covers 
a journey from Currytown to Cherry 
Valley, by way of Sharon Springs, and 
from Cherry Valley to Fort Plain. 

After referring to the Currytown raid 
and massacre of 1781, Lossing says that 
after Lieut. McKean was buried near 
the Fort Plain blockhouse, it was af- 
terward called Fort McKean in his 
honor. Referring to the massacre by 
the Indians of the prisoners taken at 
Currytown, he says: 

"At the time of the attack the In- 
dians had placed most of their pris- 
oners on the horses which they had 
stolen from Currytown and each was 
well guarded. When they were about 
to retreat before Willett, fearing the 
recapture of the prisoners and the con- 
sequent loss of scalps, the savages be- 
gan to murder and scalp them. Young 
Dievendorff (my informant) leaped 
from his horse and, running toward 
the swamp, was pursued, knocked 
down by a blow of a tomahawk upon 
his shoulder, scalped and left for dead. 
Willett did not bury his slain but a de- 
tachment of militia, under Col. Veeder, 
who repaired to the field after the bat- 
tle, entombed them, and fortunately 
discovered and proceeded to bury the 
bodies of the prisoners who were mur- 
dered and scalped near the camp. 
Young Dievendorff, who was stunned 
and insensible, was seen struggling 
among the leaves and his bloody face 
being mistaken for that of an Indian, 
one of the soldiers leveled his musket 
to shoot him. A fellow soldier, per- 
ceiving his mistake, knocked up his 
piece and saved the lad's life. He was 
taken to Fort Plain, and, being placed 
under the care of Dr. Faught, a Ger- 
man physician of Stone Arabia, was 
restored to health. It was five years, 
however, before his head was perfectly 
healed ; and when I saw him (August, 



232 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



1848), it had the tender appearance and 
feeling of a wound recently healed. He 
is still living- (1849) and, in the midst 
of the settlement of Currytown, which 
soon arose from its ashes, and is a liv- 
ing monument of savage cruelty and 
the sufferings of the martyrs for 
American liberty. 

"Toward evening we left Currytown 
for Cherry Valley, by way of Sharon 
Springs. The road lay through a beau- 
tiful though very hilly country. From 
the summits of some of the eminences 
which we passed the views were truly 
magnificent. Looking down into Can- 
ajoharie valley, from the top of its 
eastern slope, it appeared like a vast 
enameled basin, having its concavity 
garnished with pictures of rolling in- 
tervales, broad cultivated fields, green 
groves, bright streams, villages and 
neat farm houses in abundance; and 
its distant rim on its northern verge 
seemed beautifully embossed with 
wooded hills, rising one above another 
in profuse outlines far away beyond 
the Mohawk. We reached the Springs 
toward sunset, passing the Pavilion on 
the way. The Pavilion is a very large 
hotel, situated upon one of the loftiest 
summits in the neighborhood, and 
commanding a magnificent view of the 
country. It was erected in 1836 by a 
New York company and is filled with 
invalids and other visitors during the 
summer. The springs are in a broad 
ravine, and along the margin of a hill, 
and near them the little village of 
Sharon has grown up. Our stay was 
brief — just long enough to have a lost 
shoe replaced by another upon our 
horse, and to visit the famous foun- 
tains — for, having none of the 'ills 
which flesh is heir to' of sufficient 
malignity to require the infliction of 
sulphereted or chalybeate dravights, we 
were glad to escape to the hills and 
vales less suggestive of Tophet and 
the Valley of Hinnom. How any but 
invalids, who find the waters less nau- 
seous than the allopathic doses of the 
shops, and, consequently are happier 
than at home, can spend a 'season' 
there, within smelling distance of the 
gaseous fountains, and call the so- 
journ 'pleasure,' is a question that can 



only be solved by Fashion, the shrewd 
alchemist, in whose alembic common 
miseries are transmuted into conven- 
tional happiness. The sulphereted hy- 
drogen does not infect the Pavilion, I 
believe, and a summer residence there 
secures enjoyment of pure air and de- 
lightful drives and walks in the midst 
of a lovely hill country. 

"It was quite dark when we reached 
Cherry Valley, eight miles west of 
Sharon Springs. Cherry Valley de- 
rived its name from the following cir- 
cumstance: Mr. Dunlap, [the vener- 
able pastor whose family suffered at 
the time of the massacre of 1778], en- 
gaged in writing some letters, inquired 
of Mr. Lindesay [the original proprie- 
tor of the soil] where he should date 
them, who proposed the name of a 
town in Scotland. Mr. Dunlop, point- 
ing to the fine wild cherry trees and to 
the valley, replied 'Let us give our 
place an appropriate name and call it 
Cherry Valley,' which was readily 
agreed to. This village lies imbosomed 
within lofty hills, open only on the 
southwest, in the direction of the Sus- 
quehanna, and, as we approached it 
along the margin of the mountain on 
its eastern border, the lights sparkling 
below us like stars reflected from a 
lake, gave us the first indication of its 
presence. In the course of the even- 
ing we called upon the Honorable 
James Campbell, who at the time of 
the destruction of the settlement in 
1778, was a child six years of age. He 
is the son of Col. Samuel Campbell, al- 
ready mentioned [colonel of the Can- 
ajoharie district battalion at Oriskany] 
and father of the Honorable William 
W. Campbell of New York city, the 
author of the 'Annals of Tryon Coun- 
ty,' so frequently cited. With his 
mother and family, he was carried into 
captivity. He has a clear recollection 
of events in the Indian country while 
he was a captive, his arrival and stay 
at Niagara, his subsequent sojourn in 
Canada, and the final reunion of the 
family after an absence and separa- 
tion of two years. The children of 
Mrs. Campbell were all restored to her 
at Niagara, except this one. In June, 
1780, she was sent to Montreal, and 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



233 



there she was joined by her missing 
boy. He had been with a tribe of the 
Mohawks and had forgotten his own 
language, but remembered his mother 
and expressed his joy at seeing her, in 
the Indian tongue. Honorable Wil- - 
liam Campbell, late surveyor general 
of New York, was her son. She lived 
until 1836, being then 93 years of age. 
She was the last survivor of the Revo- 
lutionary women in the region of the 
headwaters of the Susquehanna. The 
residence of Hon. James S. Campbell, 
a handsome modern structure, is upon 
the site of the old family inansion, 
which was stockaded and used as a 
fort at the time of the invasion. The 
doors and window shutters were made 
bullet proof, and the two barns, that 
were included within the ramparts, 
were strengthened. The present pleas- 
ant dwelling is upon the northern 
verge of the town, on the road leading 
from Cherry Valley to the Mohawk 
[at Fort Pla'"n]. 

"In a former chapter we have noticed 
that Brant's first hostile movement af- 
ter his return from Canada and estab- 
lishment of his headquarters at Oghk- 
wana [in 1778] was an attempt to cut 
off the settlement of Cherry Valley, or 
at least to make captive the members 
of the active Committee of Correspon- 
dence. It was a sunny morning, to- 
ward the close of May [1778] when 
Brant and his warriors cautiously 
moved up to the brow of a lofty hill 
on the east side of the town to recon- 
noitre the settlement at their feet. 
He was astonished and chagrined on 
seeing a fortification, where he sup- 
posed all was weak and defenceless, 
and greater was his disappointment 
when quite a large and well-armed 
garrison appeared upon the esplanade 
in front of Col. Campbell's house. 
These soldiers were not as formidable 
as the sachem supposed, for they were 
only half grown boys, who, full of the 
martial spirit of the times, had formed 
themselves into companies, and, armed 
with wooden guns and swords, had 
regular drills each day. It was such 
display on the morning in question 
that attraded Brant's attention. His 



vision being somewhat obstructed by 
the trees and shrubs in which he was 
concealed, he mistook the boys for full 
grown soldiers and, considering an at- 
tack dangerous, moved his party to a 
hiding place at the foot of the Teka- 
harawa' Falls, in a deep ravine north 
of the village, near the road leading to 
the Mohawk. The Tekaharawa is the 
western branch of Canajoharie or 
Bowman's Creek, which falls into the 
Mohawk at Canajoharie, opposite Pal- 
atine. In that deep, rocky glen, 'where 
the whole scene was shadowy and dark 
even at mid-day,' his warriors were 
concealed, while Brant and two or 
three followers hid themselves in am- 
bush behind a large rock by the road- 
side, for the purpose of obtaining such 
information as might fall in his way. 

"On the morning of the day, Liieut. 
Wormuth, a promising young officer 
of Palatine, had been sent from Fort 
Plain to Cherry Valley with the infor- 
mation, for the committee at the latter 
place, that a military force might be 
expected there the next day. His no- 
ble bearing and rich velvet dress at- 
tracted a great deal of attention at the 
village; and, when toward evening, he 
started to return accompanied by 
Peter Sitz, the bearer of some dis- 
patches, the people in admiration 
looked after him until he disappeared 
beyond the hill. On leaving he cast 
down his portmanteau, saying, 'I shall 
be back for it in the morning.' But he 
never returned. As the two patriots 
galloped along the margin of the Tek- 
aharawa Glen, they were hailed, but, 
instead of answering, they put spurs to 
their horses. The warriors in ambvish 
arose and fired a volley upon them. 
The lieutenant fell and Brant, rushing 
out from his concealment, scalped him 
with his own hands. Sitz was cap- 
tured and his dispatches fell into the 
hands of Brant. Fortunately they 
were double, and Sitz had the pres- 
ence of mind to destroy the genuine 
and deliver the fictitious to the sa- 
chem. Deceived by these dispatches 
concerning the strength of Cherry 
Valley, Brant withdrew to Cobleskill 
and thence to Oghkawaga, and the set- 



234 



THE STORY OF- OLD FORT PLAIN 



tlement was saved from destruction at 
that time. Its subsequent fate is re- 
corded in a previous chapter. 

"Judge Campbell kindly offered to 
accompany us in the morning' to 
'Brant's rock.' This rock which is 
about four feet high, lies in a field on 
the left of the road leading from 
Cherry Valley to the Mohawk, about a 
mile and a half north of the residence 
of Judge Campbell. It is a fossiliferous 
mass, composed chiefly of shells. Be- 
hind this rock, the body of Lieut. Wor- 
muth, lifeless and the head scalped, 
was found by the villagers, who heard 
the firing on the previous evening. 
Judge Campbell pointed out the stump 
of a large tree by the roadside, as the 
place where Lieutenant Wormuth fell. 
The tree was pierced by many bul- 
lets, and Judge Campbell had extracted 
several of them when a boy. 

"Having engaged to be back at Fort 
Plain in time next day to catch the 
cars for Albany at 2 o'clock, and the 
distance from the 'rock' being twelve 
miles over a rough and hilly road, an 
early start was necessary, for I wished 
to make a sketch of the village and 
valley, as also of the rock. 

"At early dawn, the light not 
being sufficient to perceive the 
outline of distant objects, I stood 
upon the high ridge north of the vil- 
lage, which divides the headwaters of 
the eastern branch of the Susque- 
hanna from the tributaries of the Mo- 
hawk. As the pale light in the east 
grew ruddy, a magnificent panorama 
was revealed on every side. As the 
stars faded away, trees and fields, and 
hills and the quiet village arose from 
the gloom. The sun's first rays burst 
over the eastern hills into the valley, 
lighting it up with sudden splendor, 
while the swelling chorus of birds and 
the hum of insects broke the stillness; 
and the perfumes of flowers arose from 
the dewy grass like sweet incense. 

"On the north the valley of the Cana- 
joharie stretches away to the Mohawk 
twelve miles distant, whose course was 
the mountain toward the Susquehanna 
marked by a white line of mist that 
skirted the more remote hills; and on 
the south Cherry Valley extends down 



proper, and formed the easy warpath 
to the settlement at its head from 
Oghkwaga and Unadilla. From the 
bosom of the ridge whereon I stood, 
spring the headwaters of the eastern 
branch of Susquehanna and those of 
Canajoharie. I had finished the sketch 
here given [in the Field Book] before 
the sun was fairly above the treetops 
and, while the mist yet hovered over 
the Tekaharawa we were at Brant's 
rock, within the sound of the tiny cas- 
cades. There we parted from Judge 
Campbell and hastened on toward Fort 
Plain, where we arrived in time to 
breakfast and to take the morning 
train for Albany." 



CHAPTER III. 

1861-1865 — Montgomery and Fulton 
County Men in the Civil War— 115th, 
153d and Other Regiments and 
Companies With Montgomery and 
Fulton County Representation — 1912, 
115th and 153d Celebrate 50th Anni- 
versary of Mustering in at Fonda. 

The part the men ot Montgomery 
and Fulton counties played in the 
great and lamentable war of the re- 
bellion was one of honor and the rec- 
ord of those men who went to the 
front from the valley deserves a full 
and complete narrative which the 
present work will not allow. It is to 
be" hoped that the soldiers of '61-'65 of 
Montgomery and Fulton will some day 
have their story told at length in a 
suitable publication. Their deeds de- 
serve such a narrative and it should 
be written now while the veterans of 
that terrible struggle are still with us 
and can supply that personal note in 
such a story which is so essential to 
such a tale. 

Included in this suggested record 
should be noble work the union women 
of America performed in the service of 
their country during the Rebellion. 
The women of Montgomery and Fulton 
counties were well to the forefront in 
this regard, not only making supplies 
and clothing for the union soldiers and 
hospital supplies, but serving, at the 
front and elsewhere, as nurses, ex- 
posed to danger and disease. The part 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



235 



these noble women played should be 
included in every comprehensive 
chronicle of the Civil war. 

From Montgomery and Fulton coun- 
ties 1930 men are known to have gone 
into the Union armies. These are the 
soldiers whose names are given in the 
works mentioned. There were prob- 
ably others from these counties who 
engaged in the service of their coun- 
try but of whose county address no 
record was made. It is probable that the 
quota of the two counties was fully 
2,000 fighters in the federal forces — ■ 
undoubtedly the figure was greatly in 
excess of this. Montgomery county 
was represented in twenty Civil war 
organizations. Montgomery and Ful- 
ton counties furnished over fifty men 
to each of nine regiments. 

For a somewhat detailed account of 
Montgomery and Fulton Civil war his- 
tory the reader is referred to Beers's 
History of Montgomery and Fulton 
Counties (1878), under the headings 
"Montgomery County in the Civil War 
—History of the 115th New York Vol- 
unteer Infantry;" History of Mont- 
gomery County, Chap. XXV; and 
"Fulton County's Record in the War 
for the Union, History of the 153d 
New York Volunteers," History of 
Fulton County, Chap. Ill; also to 
"History of Montgomery County" 
(Mason, 1892) edited by Washington 
Frothingham, under the heading 
"Montgomery County during the Re- 
bellion" (Chap. XV.). Beers's History 
gives the known names of the Civil 
war soldiers who went to the front 
from the two counties and their home 
addresses when known. Mason's has 
a similar list. 

The Civil war history of Montgom- 
ery is very closely associated with that 
of Fulton county. Two regiments of 
New York volunteer Infantry were 
largely raised in these two counties — 
the 115th and 153d. In the 115th, 583 
men came from the two counties com- 
bined and, in the 153d. 598 soldiers rep- 
resented Montgomery and Fulton 
counties. Following is a list of the 
Civil war organizations in which these 
two divisions (comprising old Mont- 
gomery county) were principally rep- 



resented, together with the number of 
men from each and their combined 
totals for the two counties: 

115th N. Y. Vols., Montgomery, 421; 
Fulton, 162. Total, 583. 

153d N. Y. Vols., Montgomery, 329; 
Fulton, 269. Total, 598. 

13th Regiment Artillery, Montgom- 
ery, 33; Fulton, 71. Total, 104. 

16th Regiment Artillery, Montgom- 
ery, 36; Fulton, 8. Total, 44. 

2d Regular Cavalry, Montgomery, 6; 
Fulton, 31. Total, 37. 

Other Civil war military organiza- 
tions receiving recruits from Mont- 
goinery were as follows, together with 
the number of men enlisted from the 
county: Co. K, 1st Artillery ("Fort 
Plain Battery"), 65; Co. E, 43d in- 
fantry, 69; Cos. B and D, 32d regiment, 
130. 

Commands other than the above to 
which Fulton contributed, with the 
number of recruits from that county, 
follow: 77th Infantry, 101; Co. I, 10th 
Cavalry, 92; 97th N. Y. volunteers, 53; 
Co. D, 93d regiment, 51. 

The known men enlisted in all union 
Civil war commands from Montgomery 
county came from the towns of Mont- 
gomery county in the following pro- 
portion: Amsterdam, 115; Canajo- 
harie, 93; Charleston, 34; Florida, 66; 
Glen, 101; Minden, 103; Mohawk, 122; 
Palatine, 75; Root, 42; St. Johnsville, 
72. This list gives the addresses of 
only 810 of the 1,095 men known to 
have gone to the Civil war from Mont- 
gomery county. Hence it does not 
pretend to show the total number 
from each town. 

Of the 810 soldiers whose town ad- 
dresses are given in Beers's (1878) and 
Mason's (1892) histories, as coming 
from Montgomery county, 365 came 
from the five western towns and 445 
from the five eastern towns. This is 
in no way an attempt to give an esti- 
mate of the number of union soldiers 
of Fulton and Montgomery* counties 
and only recapitulates the figures 
given in Beers's and Mason's histories. 

The staff ofl^cers of the 115th regi- 
ment were as follows: Colonel, Sim- 
eon Sammons, Mohawk; Lieut. Col., E. 
I. Walrath, Syracuse; Lieut. Col., Geo. 



236 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



S. Batcheller, Saratoga; N. J. John- 
son, Ballston (commanded regiment in 
May, 1864); major, Patrick H. Cowan, 
Saratoga; surgeon, C. McFarland; 
surgeon, R. E. Sutton, Saratoga; as- 
sistant surgeon, Samuel "W. Peters; 
2d assistant surgeon, Hiram W. In- 
gerson, Fonda; adjutant, Thomas R. 
Horton, Fultonville; quartermaster, 
Martin McMartin, Johnstown; chap- 
lain, S. W. Clemens; captains, Co. A, 
Garret Van Deveer, Fonda; Co. B, John 
P. Kneesl^ern, Minden; Co. D, Sidney 

D. Lingenfelter, Amsterdam; Co. E, 
William H. Shaw, Mayfield; Co. I, Ezra 

E. Walrath, Syracuse; Co. K, William 
Smith, Amsterdam. 

The staff officers of the 153d 
New York volunteer regiment were 
as follows (no addresses are given 
in Beers's) : Colonel, Duncan Mc- 
Martin, resigned April 25, 1863; 
colonel, Edwin P. Davis, muster- 
ed out with regiment, Oct. 2, 1865; 
Lieut. Col., Thomas A. Armstrong, re- 
signed, Feb. 18, 1863; Lieut. Col., W. 
H. Printup, resigned TSTov. 17, 1863; 
Lieut. Col., Alexander Stram, discharg- 
ed Jan. 4, 1865; major, Edwin P. Davis, 
promoted to colonel Mar. 26, 1863; 
major, Alexander Strain, promoted to 
Lieut. Col., Dec. 1, 1863; major, 
Stephen Sammons, resigned Au,g. 27, 
1864; major, George H. McLaughlin, 
promoted to Lieut. Col., Jan. 26, 1865; 
major, C. P. Putnam, died. Sa- 
vannah, Ga., Sept. 9, 1865; adjutant, 
Stephen Sammons, promoted to major 
Dec. 2, 1863; adjutant, Abram V. Davis, 
mustered out with regiment Oct. 2, 
1865; quartermaster, D. C. Livingston, 
resigned Aug. 22, 1863; quartermaster, 
John D. Blanchard, mustered out with 
regiment; surgeon, H. S. Hendee, re- 
signed Feb. 8, 1864; assistant surgeon. 
J. L. Alexander, resigned Aug. 19, 1863; 
assistant surgeon, N. L. Snow, pro- 
moted to surgeon Apr. 14, 1864; assist- 
ant surgeon, J. Sweeney, mustered out 
with regiment; chaplain, J. Henry 
Enders, mustered out with regiment; 
captains: Co. A, David Spaulding, 
Johnstown; Co. B, Robert R. Mere- 
dith, Mohawk; Co. C, W. H. Printup; 
Co. D, J. J. Buchanan; Co. E, Jacob C. 
Klock, Fonda; Co. F, Isaac S. Van 



Woerts, Fonda; Co. G, George H. Mc- 
Laughlin, Fonda. 

Company K, 1st Artillery. Enrolled 
at Fort Plain. Officers: Captain, 
Lorenzo Crounse; 1st lieutenant, S. 
Walter Stocking; 2d lieutenant, Angell 
Matthewson; 1st sergeant, George W. 
Fox; quartermaster sergeant, William 
J. Canfield; sergeant, Mosher Marion; 
1st corporal, Phelps Conover; 3d cor- 
poral, Aden G. Voorhees; 4th corporal, 
Gottlieb Ludwig; 6th corpora^ William 
E. Smith; 7th corporal, Horatio Fox; 
8th corporal, Henry Tabor; bugler, 
George W. Beardsley; artificer, Clark 
Burtiss; wagoner, Martin Sitts. 

Company E, 43d Infantry. Enrolled 
at Canajoharie: Captain, Jacob Wil- 
son; 1st lieutenant, Hiram A. Wins- 
low; 2d sergeant, Thomas Avery; 3d 
sergeant, Frank Shurburt; 4th ser- 
geant, J. W. Hagadorn; 5th sergeant, 
Jackson Davis; 1st corporal, John D. 
Dain; 2d corporal, William F. Ward; 
3d corporal., Cornelius Van Alstyne; 
5th corporal, Christopher Richards; 
6th corporal, Martin O'Brien; music- 
ians, Charles Marcy, William Flint. 

Officers Co. F, 97th Regiment, N. Y. 
Vols.: Captain, Stephen G. Hutchin- 
son, Lassellsville; 1st lieutenant, E. 
Gray Spencer, Brocketts Bridge; cor- 
poral, Olaf Peterson, Lassellsville; 
corporal, Augustus Johnson, Brocketts 
Bridge; corporal, Wallace McLaugh- 
lin, Lassellsville; corporal. Henry 
Fical, Lassellsville; corporal, William 
B. Judd, Brocketts Bridge; musician, 
Henry P. Butler, Lassellsville; mu- 
sician, George F. Dempster, Lassells- 
ville. 

Co. I, 10th Cavalry, was recruited 
principally from Mayfield and Broad- 
alibin, in Fulton Co. David Getman, 
Mayfield, was captain and Stephen 
Dennie was 1st lieutenant and Charles 
H. Hill, 2d lieutenant. 

Co. K, 77th N. Y. Infantry, was re- 
cruited almost exclusively from Glov- 
ersville. Captain, Nathan S. Babcock; 
1st lieutenant, John W. McGregor; 2d 
lieutenant. Philander A. Cobb. 

Co. D, 93d Regiment Infantry was 
recruited Largely from Northampton, 
Fulton county. Captain, George M. 
Voorhees; 1st lieutenant, Henry P. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



237 



Smith; 2d lieutenant, Philemon B. 
Marvin, all of Northampton. 

A goodly proportion of Co. P, 2d 
Regiment Cavalry, came from May- 
field, Fulton county. Captain, W. H. 
Shaw; 1st lieutenant, D. Getman; 2d 
lieutenant, J. L. Haines, all of May- 
field. 



The following, from Beers's (1878) 
History of Montgomery and Fulton 
Counties,, gives a sketch of the 115th 
New York Volunteer Regiment: 583 
men from Pulton and Montgomery 
county were enrolled in the 115th: 

In writing the history of the 115th 
N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, we record 
the acts of a noble body of men, whose 
deeds are already written in blood and 
inscribed high up in the roll of Fame. 
This regiment was raised in tlie coun- 
ties of Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton 
and Hamilton, and mustered into the 
United States service on the 26th day 
of August, 1862, by Capt. Edgerton, U. 
S. A., at Fonda, the place of rendez- 
vous of the regiment. 

With ten hundred and forty en- 
listed men, the regiment broke camp 
at Fonda on the 29th day of August, 
1862, and was forwarded to the seat of 
war as soon as possible, arriving .at 
Sandy Hook, Md., on the Baltimore 
and Ohio R.R., on the 1st of Sept., 
where the regiment was furnished 
with arms, but very little ammunition. 
It then moved to Harper's Ferry, Va., 
where it was assigned to guard duty 
along the Shenandoah Valley R.R., 
with headquarters at Charlestown, Va. 

The regiment performed guard duty 
faithfully, until a few days before the 
surrender of Harper's Perry, when it 
and others were ordered to concen- 
trate at that place. On the way to the 
Ferry James English, a member of 
Co. D, was wounded in the hand, by 
the accidental discharge of a musket, 
necessitating amputation at the wrist; 
he was the first man wounded in the 
regiment. On arriving at, or near 
Harper's Perry, the regiment was en- 
camped on Bolivar Heights, in the 
rear of the vilJage. From this point it 
performed picket duty, and while so 
engaged, John Hubbard, of Co. A, was 
wounded by a guerilla. On the 12th, 
Companies E and A were ordered to 
report to Col. Tom Ford, in command 
of Maryland Heights, and upon doing 
so, were ordered to proceed up the 
Potomac, to the old "John Brown" 
school-house, and form a skirmish line 
from the river as far up the moun- 
tain as possible, the left resting on the 
river. 

Early the next morning the two 



companies were ordered back to Ford's 
headquarters, and from there to Elk 
Ridge, at the Lookout, on the highest 
peak of the mountain. Here for the 
first time members of the 115th regi- 
ment met the enemy in deadly combat. 
After several hours fighting, and hold- 
ing their .position, the two companies 
were ordered to evacuate the place, 
and report to Gen. Miles' headquarters, 
which they did very reluctantly, and 
not until they had received the third 
order. Company E had one man 
wounded. About this time Company 
K moved up, and in a few minutes its 
captain was carried to the rear, having 
been wounded in the thigh by a minie- 
ball. Upon nearing the foot of the 
mountain, at what was known as 
Maryland Heights, Companies E and 
A met the remainder of the regiment, 
who congratulated them upon their 
safe return. 

The regiment returned to camp on 
Bolivar Heights. The troops Avere 
kept moving to and fro until the morn- 
ing of the 15th, when General Miles 
made one of the most cowardly and 
disgraceful surrenders recorded in the 
annals of American histoi-y. Eleven 
thousand men, armed and equipped in 
the best style, with plenty of ammuni- 
tion, holding one of the most defensi- 
ble positions in the United States, were 
ignoininioualy surrendered, instead of 
aiding to surround Lee's, Longstreet's, 
Hill's and Jackson's corps where there 
was no possilile way of escape. Thus 
the Union army was reduced, and 
eleven thousand as good fighting men 
as ever shouldered a musket were 
doomed to bear the taunts of their 
enemies, at home and abroad, as "Har- 
per's Ferry cowards." But every regi- 
ment that was obliged to participate 
in that farce, and whose honor was 
sold by the commanding otticer, has, 
upon bloody fields, won bright laurels, 
and vindicated its soldierly character. 
By the good graces of the rebel gen- 
erals who had the captured army as 
an "elephant on their hands," the pris- 
oners were paroled the next day, and 
allowed to depart in peace, which they 
did with sorrowing hearts. 

The regiment returned to Annapolis, 
Mai'yland, and thence went to Chi- 
cago, where it went into camp on the 
Cook county fair ground, which was 
called "Camp Tyler," after the general 
in command of the troops around the 
city. During the stay of the 115th in 
Chicago its duties were about the same 
as those of troops in garrison, but the 
men were allowed rather more liber- 
ties than regular soldiers on duty. 
While at Chicago, the weather being 
very bad most of the time, and the 
men not on fatigue duty enough to 
give them healthy exercise, malarial 
fever caused the death of quite a num- 
ber. 



238 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



About the 20th of November, 1862, 
the regiment was ordered to proceed 
to Washington. The capital was 
reached about the 23d, and at the same 
time the soldiers of the 115th were ex- 
changed and marched over to Arling- 
ton Heiglits. There they were suppos- 
ed to go into winter Quarters, but by 
the time quarters were built the regi- 
ment was ordered out again, and kept 
in motion between Arlington, Fairfax, 
Hunter's creek, Alexandria and York- 
town, where it embarked on the 
steamer "Matanzas," January 23d, 
1863, and arrived at Hilton Head, S. 
C, Department of the South, about the 
26th of January. 

Here the regiment was divided into 
detachments for post, camp and out- 
post duty. Companies E and D were 
detailed to garrison Battery Mitchell, 
an outpost on Scull creek. Company 
B was stationed at Saybrook, and 
other companies at different points on 
and around Hilton Head Island, until 
the 28th of May, when the different 
detachments were relieved and the 
regiment was again a unit at Hilton 
Head. On the 2d of June, Companies 
E and B were, by order of General 
Chatrteld, detailed for special field 
duty, and went with other troops up 
May river, S. C, and burned the town 
of Bluffton. About the 27th of June 
the regiment was moved to the city 
of Beaufort, S. C, some twelve miles 
up Beaufort river, where it went into 
camp. After remaining here a while 
and suffering severely from malaria, 
incident to the dull routine life of the 
camp, the regiment was again divided 
into detachments and sent to do out- 
post and picket duty on Beaufort, Port 
Royal and other islands adjacent to 
them. 

On the 20th of December the regi- 
ment embarked on transports for the 
old camp at Hilton Head, where it was 
attached to Gen. T. Seymour's "ill- 
starred" Florida expedition. The force 
left Hilton Head on the 5th of Feb- 
ruary, 1864, reached Jacksonville on 
the evening of the 7th, and occupied 
the city without opposition. During 
the night of the 8th the expedition 
reached Camp Finnegan, about twelve 
miles from Jacksonville, capturing a 
battery of six guns, a quantity of 
small arms, etc., and a large amount 
of provisions, upon which the boys 
feasted until next day, when, with well 
filled haversacks, they moved toward 
Tallahassee, reaching and occupying 
Baldwin without opposition, and 
reaching Barber's Plantation during 
the night. The next day the troops 
advanced to Sanderson's Station, 
where they bvirned the railroad depot 
filled with corn, and several resin and 
turpentine manufactories, and tore up 
considerable railroad track, burning 
ties and other property belonging to 



the rebels. By order of Gen. Seymour, 
the army fell back to Barber's Plan- 
tation and remained there until the 
19th. 

During this time the 115th, a part of 
the 4th Massachusetts cavalry and a 
section of the 3d R. I. F.ying Artillery 
were ordered to proceed to Callahan, a 
station on the Fernandipa and Cedar 
Keys railroad, and capture whatever 
they might find, which was one pony, 
seven bushels of sweet potatoes, and 
one or two Florida hogs, of the kind 
that need to have knots tied in their 
tails to prevent their getting through 
cracks. Returning to camp, weary, 
footsore and hungry, the boys of the 
115th were allowed to rest about one 
day, when the whole command broke 
camp eariy on the morning of the 20th, 
for the disastrous Held of Olustee, 
known by the rebels as Ocean Pond. 

Upon arriving on the field the order 
of battle was formed, with the 115th 
on the extreme right of the infantry 
line, and the troops ordered to move 
forward, which they did with a steadi- 
ness that showed the 15,000 rebels that 
they had work to do. Upon arriving 
on a rise of ground between where the 
line was formed and the rebel position, 
the advancing force received a mur- 
derous fire, at which the colored troops 
on the extreme left broke very badly. 
The white troops upon the left began 
to double up on the 115th, bvit order 
was soon restored. About this time 
the rebels made a charge upon the 
Union right, which wns repulsed by 
the 115th, who sent the enemy back 
over their works with heavy loss. The 
combat continued to rage with fury 
until the supply of ammunition on 
both sides gave out, and. night coming 
on. both parties were willing to call it 
a drawn battle; but Gen. Seymour, by 
ordering a retreat, gave the rebels to 
understand that he abandoned the con- 
test. Upon this occasion Gen. Sey- 
mour took occasion to publicly compli- 
ment the 115th, giving it the honor and 
praise of saving his little army frora 
total' annihilation, and naming it the 
"Iron-hearted Regiment." The regi- 
ment lost over one-half its number in 
killed, wounded and missing. Col. 
Sammons was wounded in the foot at 
the commencement of the battle. Capt. 
Vanderveer was mortally wounded, 
and died in a few days. Lieuts. Tomp- 
kins and Shaffer were killed, besides 
many of the best non-commissioned 
officers and men. 

On leaving Olustee the expedition 
retraced its steps toward Jacksonville, 
where the 115th did picket and camp 
duty until February 9th, when the 
force embarked on transports for Pa- 
latka, Fla., about one hundred miles 
up the St. John's river from Jackson- 
ville. Here the troops rested, and 
nothing of interest transpired. On the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



239 



14th of April they again embarlved on 
transports for Hilton Head, S. C, mak- 
ing a few hours' stop at Jacksonville, 
and arriving at their destination on the 
evening of the 16th. On the 18th the 
regiment sailed for Gloucester Point, 
Va., reaching that place on the 21st, 
and was attached to the 10th army 
corps. On May 4th it was attached to 
the Armj' of the James, under Gen. B. 
F. Butler. The army moved up the 
James river to Bermuda Hundred, and 
on the 7th of May the 115th partici- 
pated and suffered severely in the ill- 
fated battle of Chesterlield Heights, 
Va., losing about eighty in killed, 
wounded and missing. From this time 
to the 16th of May the regiment was 
marching, fighting, picketing, etc. On 
the morning of that day the disastrous 
battle of Drury's Bluff was fought, and 
the 11 5th regiment again brought into 
requisition under the immediate su- 
pervision of Gen. Adelbert Ames, who 
complimented it for its bravery and 
skilful movements, which saved But- 
ler's army from total rout. 

On the 17th the regiment went into 
camp at Hatcher's Run. From this 
tiirte it was on picket duty all the time 
to the 28th, when it marched to City 
Point, and embarked on board the 
steamer "De Molay," for White House, 
Va., landing there on the 31st, at 4 p. 
m. The 115th took up the line of march 
for Cold Harbor, Va., reaching that 
place June 1st, at 3.30 p. m., and im- 
mediately, with the rest of the brigade, 
charged the enemy's works, this regi- 
ment capturing two hundred and fifty 
men with their arms and equipments. 
Here the regiment was again compli- 
mented for bravery by Gen. Devens. 

From that time to the 12th, the regi- 
ment was under a continuous Hre day 
and night. During the night of the 
12th it marched for White House 
Landing, which place was reached at 6 
a. m., of the 13th. Next day the regi- 
ment embarked for City Point, landed 
at Powhattan, on the James, and 
marched the rest of the way. On the 
23d it moved up in front of Peters- 
burgh, Va. From this time the regi- 
ment was in the trenches before Pet- 
ersburgh, to July 29th, when Gen. Tur- 
ner's division, to which the 115th was 
attached, moved to the left, to assist 
Burnside's ninth corps in the explosion 
of the mine, and charge upon the 
enemy's works. This occurred at 5 
o'clock, on the morning of the 30th of 
July. Here, again, the 115th displayed 
its courage and cool bravery by stand- 
ing as a wall of fire between the ad- 
vancing Rebels, and the partially de- 
moralized 9th corps, and was again 
complimented by both Gens. Burnside 
and Turner. 

From Pefersburgh the regiment 
marched to near City Point, and then 
to Bermuda Hundred, losing several 



men by sun stroke, as the weather was 
extremely hot, and the roads dry and 
dusty. Up to this time the regiment 
had been under lire for thirty-seven 
days, and needed rest, which was had 
at Hatch's farm, until, on the evening 
of the 13th of August, the regiment 
broke camp and marched to Deep Bot- 
tom, on the north side of the James 
river, which was reached at 7 o'clock a. 
m., on the 14th. That day and the 
next were occupied in marching and 
countermarching. On the 16th the 
enemy were found strongly posted at 
Charles City Court House, where fight- 
ing began at once and continued until 
the evening of the 18th, when the 115th 
was deployed and covered the retreat 
of the Union forces. In this affair the 
regiment lost eighty-four killed, 
wounded and missing. 

On the 20th it returned to the old 
camp at Bermuda, with only one hun- 
dred and twenty men fit for duty. 
Comparative rest was the happy lot of 
the decimated regiment until the 28th, 
when it marched to Petersburgh again 
and occupied the trenches in front of 
that city. The regiment had a little 
rest, doing only trench and camp duty 
until the 28th of September, when it 
broke camp and marched to the north 
side of the James. On the 29th the 
115th participated in the capture of 
two redoubts on Chaffin's farm, known 
by some as Spring Hill. Here the 
losses of the regiment were very se- 
vere, among the dead being the loved 
and lamented Capt. W. H. McKit- 
trick, of Co. C. During this engage- 
ment in charges, countercharges, vic- 
tories and repulses, the enemy lost 
three times the number that the 115th 
did. 

From this time to October 27th, the 
regiment was doing picket duty most 
of the time. On that day a reconnois- 
sance was made in force on the Dar- 
bytown road, in front of Richmond, 
the 115th taking a prominent part in 
charging the rebel works, and losing 
quite heavily. Among the number 
killed was Sergeant Ide of Company F, 
the idol of his comrades. Returning to 
camp, the regiment had five days com- 
parative rest. On the 8th of December, 
the 115th embarked on the propeller 
"Haze." and participated in the abor- 
tive attempt to capture Fort Fisher, 
N. C. In the afternoon of December 
30th, the regiment debarked at Jones' 
Landing, on the James river, Va., and 
just after dark was again in the old 
camp on Chafln's farm. 

On January 4th, 1865, the JlSth again 
embarked on board the propellor "De 
Molay," on its second expedition 
against the keystone of the confeder- 
acy. The who'e force was under com- 
mand of Gen. Alfred H. Terry. The 
troops landed at Flay Pond battery, a 
short distance north of Fort Fisher, on 



240 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the 13th at 9 a. m. The 115th lost but 
two or three men in landing. At 3 p. 
m. of the 15th, the grand charge was 
made upon the fort, the 115th bearing 
a noble part in its capture, and being 
again complimented l>y General Terry, 
also by Gen. Ames, who knew some- 
thing of its fighting ^qualities while in 
the army of the Janies. The loss to 
the regiment was about 70, and among 
the killed was Lieut. S. S. Olney, of 
Co. F, whose loss to the regiment and 
company could not be made good. At 
about 8 o'clock, on the morning of the 
16th, one of the magazines of the fort 
exploded, killing and wounding more 
of this regiment than the fighting of 
the day before. 

From this time to the surrender of 
Johnson's rebel army, the 115th was 
continually employed in fighting, 
marching, picket and guard duty, until 
it reached Raleigh, N. C, where it was 
assigned to "safe guard" duty in the 
city, from April 23d to June 17th, when 
it was mustered out of service. On the 
19th, the regiment left Raleigh for Al- 
bany, N. Y., where it was paid off by 
Paymaster jC. F. Davis on the 6th of 
July, 1865, there being something less 
than two hundred of the original mem- 
bers. Upon leaving the U. S. service, 
the men quietly returned to their 
homes and former vocations, and to- 
day the old 115th N. Y. Volunteer In- 
fantry is represented in nearly every 
state in the Union, and almo.st every 
calling in life. However humble or ex- 
alted they may now be, if you speak 
of the camp, the Ijivouac, the fatigue, 
the march, the picket, the fight, and 
the camp fires of years gone by, their 
eyes will kindle, and at the fireside 
they fight their battles o'er and o'er, 
until one could almost hear the roar of 
musketry, and the bursting of shells. 
But we must stop, for we can add 
nothing to the laurels already wreath- 
ed around the brow of one of the best 
of our country's defenders, the 115th 
Regiment, New York Volunteer In- 
fantry. It only remains to add the 
following list of battles which were 
participated in by the regiment, or a 
part of it: 

Maryland Heights, Sept. 13, 1862. 
Bolivar Heights, Va.,-Sept. 15, 1862. 
West Point, Va., Jan. 8, 1863. 
Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 7, 1864. 
Camp Finegan, Fla., Feb. 8, 1864. 
Baldwin, Fla.. Feb. 9, 1864. 
Sanderson, Fla., Feb. 11, 1864. 
Callahan Station, Fla., Feb. 14, 1864. 
Olustee, Fla., Feb. 20, 1864. 
Palatka, Fla., March 10, 1864. 
Bermuda Hundred, Va., May 5, 1864. 
Chesterfie'd Heights, Va., May 7, 1864. 
Old Church, Va., May 9, 1864. 
Weir Bottom Church, Va., May 12, 
1864. 

Drury's Bluff, Va., May 14, 1864. 



Proctor's Creek and Port Walthall, 
Va.. May 16, 1864. 

Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864. 

Chickahominy, Va., June, 1864. 

Petersburg!!, Va., June 23, 1864. 

Burnside Mine, Va., July 30, 1864. 

Deep Bottom, Va., Aug. 16-18. 1864. 

Fort Gilmer, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. 

Darbytown Read, Va., Oct. 27, 1864. 

Fort Fisher, N. C, Dec. 25, 1864. 

Fort Fisher, N. C, Jan. 15, 1865. 

Fort Anderson, N. C, Feb. 19, 1865. 

Sugar Loaf Battery, N. C, Feb. 20, 
1865. 

Wilmington, N. C, Feb. 22, 1865. 

The 115th brought out of the war six 
flags, which Col. Sammons, in behalf 
of the regiment, presented to the state. 
The national ensign, a gift of the 
ladies of the XV^th Senatorial district, 
Aug. 20, 1862, showed service, the staff 
and three- fifths of the flag being gone. 
The regimental lianner, presented by 
the state authorities while the regi- 
ment was at Fonda, of silk, with eagle 
and shield in the center, the national 
motto in a scroll beneath, and thirty- 
four stars in the field above, liearing 
the inscription "115th N. Y. Vo\ Regi- 
ment Infantry," came out rent in the 
center and torn from side to side. A 
second and similar regimental banner 
survived in better condition, and with 
it was a new national flag inscribed 
with the names of the regiment's bat- 
tles; also two guidons of bunting. 
These flags were turned over to the 
adjutant general. They are represent- 
ed by Lieut. Col. N. J. Johnson, and 
are carried by Sergt. James English, 
who lost an arm While supporting 
them in the field. 



Beers's History has the following 
regarding the 153d New York Volun- 
teers. 598 Montgomery and Fulton 
county men were enlisted in the 153d, 
the largest number from these twin 
counties in any Civil war organization: 

The 153d Regt. N. Y. State Vols, was 
raised in 1862 under the second call of 
President Lincoln, for 300,000 men. 
Seven of its companies were from the 
counties of Fulton, Montgomery and 
Saratoga, the other three from Clin- 
ton, Essex and Warren. The regi- 
ment was mustered into service at 
Fonda, Oct. 18th, 1862, and left for 
Virginia the same day. On arriving at 
Washington, Oct. 22d, it was at once 
ordered to Alexandria, Va., and- there 
encamped. While here the regiment 
attained a high degree of discipline 
through the efficient attention of Col. 
McMartin and his officers. The men, 
however, suffered considerably from 
t.vphoid pneumonia, measles and small- 
pox. Col. McMartin was at length com- 
pelled to resign through an accident 






THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



241 



and failing hea'tli. By his generous 
and impartial conduct he had won the 
hearts of his officers and men, and 
they bade him adieu with deep regret. 
Col. Armstrong also resigned, and Maj. 
E. P. Davis was promoted to the 
colonelcy of the regiment. 

At that time Alexandria was a vast 
depot of military stores. Its fortiflca- 
tions were considei'ed of but little 
avail if the enemy should make a sud- 
den dash upon the town under cover 
of night. The troops were often 
aroused from their slumbers and form- 
ed in line of battle, across the different 
roads leading to the city, remaining 
under arms till dawn, to repel any at- 
tack. For fourteen consecutive nights 
this regiment lay behind temporary 
barriers of quartermasters' wagons, in 
the open air, expecting the enemy. 

On the 20th of July, 1863, the regi- 
ment was ordered to Capital Hill bar- 
racks, Washington. Its duty here was 
guarding the depot of the Baltimore 
and Ohio railroad, examining travel- 
ers' passes, patrolling the city, con- 
voying troops to the front, and pris- 
oners to Point Lookout, and guarding 
Contraband Camp, Centra! Guard- 
house, Carroll and Old Capital Prisons. 
Surgeon Hendee and Quartermaster 
Livingston resigned while here, and 
Dr. Snow, 1st assistant, became sur- 
geon. 

On the 20th of February, 1864, the 
regiment embarked on the steamer 
Mississippi for New Orleans, where it 
arrived February 28th, landing at Al- 
giers, opposite that city, and occupying 
the Belleville Iron Works. Thence it 
proceeded by rail, March 3d, to 
Brashaer, 80 miles distant. Crossing 
Grand Lake at Bashaer, the troops 
marched up the beautiful valley of the 
bayou Teche. On the 5th, they ar- 
rived at Franklin, and reporting to 
Gen. Franklin, were assigned to the 1st 
brigade, 1st division. 19th army corps. 
On the 15th they were again on the 
move toward Alexandria, on the Red 
river, arriving there March 24th, where 
they found Gen. Banks awaiting 
them. On their way thither Joseph 
Hawkins, of Co. K, died of exhaustion. 

On the 28th of March they left Alex- 
andria for Shreveport, 170 miles dis- 
tant, which was in possession of the 
enemy. Gen. Lee led the cavalry di- 
vision, the 13th corps followed, then 
the 1st division of the 19th corps, next 
the 13th and 19th corps trains with ten 
days rations. The 1st brigade of the 
19th army corps, to which the regiment 
was assigned, was commanded by Gen. 
Dwight, and consisted of the 29th, 
114th, 116th and 153d N. Y. regiments. 
The country now supplied the entire 
army with beef, vast numbers of cattle 
being secured daily. After a march of 
36 miles the army came to Pleasant 



Hill, and halted for the train to come 
up. 

On .the 8th of April, the 153d regi- 
ment was detailed to guard the divi- 
sion train, and consequently, in rear 
of the armj'. On that day the cavalry 
and 13th corps, being in advance, were 
met by the enemy at Sabine Cross 
Roads, and being overpowered by su- 
perior numbers, fell back in confu- 
sion. Gen. Emery, apprised of the dis- 
aster in front, drew up his (1st) divi- 
sion at Pleasant Grove, three miles 
below Sabine Cross Roads. The rebels, 
pressing" the retreating forces, at 
length charged upon Emery with great 
impetuosity. For an hour and a half 
he gallantly resisted their repeated on- 
sets, until darkness put an end to the 
conflict. The LTnion troops continued 
on the battlefield until midnight, when 
they were ordered back to Pleasant 
Hill, this regiment covering their re- 
treat. The next morning the enemy, 
having discovered their retreat, fol- 
lowed them to Pleasant Hill. Our 
troops took position to resist the on- 
set. At length the enemy drove in 
their skirmish line and made an at- 
tack in force on their left. Five times 
they charged on the 1st brigade, and 
were as often driven back. This was 
the first battle in which this regiment 
had taken part. In his report of it, 
Col. Davis says: "My men behaved 
nobly, and I attach much credit to the 
noble manner in which my line officers 
acted. Lieut. Col. Strain. Maj. Sam- 
mons and Adjut. Davis rendered me 
valuable assistance in keeping my line 
together and maintaining my position." 
For three hours the conflict raged, 
when, night coming on, the work of 
death ended. Our troops lay on their 
arms in line of battle all night, but 
the enemy, taking advantage of the 
darkness, had removed. On account of 
the scarcity of water and rations the 
army began to retreat, April 10, to- 
ward Grand Ecore, a small town on a 
bluff of the Red river. This place was 
reached the following day. 

Gen. Dwight now became chief of 
staff to Gen. Banks, and Col. Beal, of 
the 29th Maine, was assigned to the 
1st brigade. April 23d the army left 
Grand Ecore. As it moved out the 
town was fired. This was said to be 
the work of a rebel, and done to ap- 
prise the enemy of the army's depart- 
ure. After a forced march of 40 miles, 
the force went into camp, at mid- 
night, near Cloutierville, but at 4 
o'clock the next morning was again on 
the way to Cane River Crossing. This 
place was in possession of the rebel 
general Bee, with 4.000 men, who were 
fortifying Monet's Bluff, which com- 
mands it. At this point the situation 
of the army was indeed critical. The 
enemy was closely pursuing them in 
the rear; Gen. Bee, strongly fortified, 



242 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



was in front; Cane river on the right, 
and a dense swamp and forest on the 
left. The 1st brigade was thrown for- 
ward into a wood, which the enemy 
began to shell; as they rtred too high, 
however, they did but litt:e injury. At 
length our forces made a simultaneous 
attack. The enemy replied with great 
vigor to our batteries, but Birge car- 
ried the Bluff and forced them to re- 
treat. Our troops now being ordered 
to cross the river, the 2d Vet. Cavalry, 
the llGth and 153d pressed forward 
and were among the first to occupy the 
heights. 

The Union troops continued their re- 
treat toward Alexandria, the base of 
supplies, which place they reached on 
the 25th of April, and encamped near 
our gunboats and transports. Here 
they remained until the 13th of May, 
when they again took up their march, 
now toward the Mississippi, the tleet 
leaving at the same time. As the 
troops left Alexandria a fire broke out 
in such a way as to make it impossible 
to prevent a general conflagration. 
There was some skirmishing by the 
troops on this march, and once they 
met the enemy in force. It was on 
this route that the Battle of Mansura 
occurred, but it was fought principally 
with artillery on the Union side. 

On the 17th of May the army reach- 
ed the Atchafalas'a river near Sims- 
port, where the transports were found 
awaiting it. The river, 600 feet wide 
at this point, was bridged with 19 
transports fastened together, and on 
the 19th the troops and trains passed 
over. On the 22d they reached Mar- 
ganzia Bend on the Mississippi. Here 
the 153d suffered much through sick- 
ness and death. On the 1st of July 
the 153d and 114th regiments took the 
steamer Crescent for New Orleans, 
where they arrived on the 2d, and the 
following day moved down the river 
under sealed orders. They soon learn- 
ed they were destined for Fortress 
Monroe. Arriving there, they were at 
once ordered to report in Washing- 
ton, which they reached July 11th, 
1864. The 153d took position in the 
rifle pits beyond Fort Saratoga. At 
this time Gen. Ear'y was foraging in 
Maryland, menacing Washington, and 
causing our troops considerable un- 
easiness. 

This regiment, with the 6th and 19th 
corps, under command of Gen. Wright, 
were at length sent, with other troops, 
in pursuit of Early. After moving 
from place to place for several days, 
they at length settled temporarily at 
Harper's Ferry, August 5th. On the 
7th of August Gen. Sheridan was 
placed in command of the "Middle De- 
partment," composed of the late de- 
partments of West Virginia, Wash- 
ington and Susquehanna. On the 10th 
of August, 1864, the army began its 



march up the Shenandoah Valley, 
passing from town to town, and occa- 
sionally making short stops. While 
camping at Charlestown, Cadman, of 
Company A, and Charles Thornton, of 
Company H, of the 153d regiment, 
while making some purchases for the 
mess at a farm house near by, were 
captured by guerillas. In the melee 
the latter was killed; the former was 
taken to Richmond and confined in 
Libby Prison. Both were highly es- 
teemed. Leaving Charlestown, the 
army returned to Harper's Ferry, 
camping on the ground twice before 
occupied. On the 28th of August the 
force was ordered up the valley. Again 
marching or countermarcliing, skir- 
mishing with or pursuing the enemy, 
or Ijeing pursued by him, was the order 
of the day. It soon became apparent, 
however, that the army was about to 
make a determined advance. On the 
ISth of September all surplus baggage 
was sent to the rear, and early the fol- 
lowing morning the force was in mo- 
tion. 

Early held the west side of the Ope- 
quan creek. Sheridan was in his front 
and on his right. The cavalry had 
driven the enemy and cleared the pas- 
sage of the Opequan. This was now 
forded by the infantry, who advanced 
along the turnpike through a deep ra- 
vine about a mile in length. Early had 
hoped to prevent their entering this 
I'avine, luit in tliis he failed. It now 
remained for him to seize the upper 
openin,g and prevent our troops from 
forming in line of battle; or, failing in 
this, he hoped after the Union troops 
had formed to mass his whole strength 
against them, and by holding the gorge 
to cut off their retreat. 

The battle of Opequan creek or 
Winchester, was fought to gain pos- 
session of this ravine, the key to Win- 
chester. At ten o'clock a. m., the 6th 
corps left the ravine, and filing to the 
left, advanced on the open plain in 
two lines of battle, the lirst of which 
carried one of the enemy's rifle pits. 
The 19th corps closely followed the 
6th, Gen. Grover's division joining 
them on the right. Dwight's division, 
to which the 153d belonged, was sent 
as Grover's support. While their bri- 
gade was forming, it received repeat- 
ed volleys from the enemy, who were 
behind and protected by a ledge of 
rocks. The burden of the conflict in 
the early part of the day came upon 
the 19th corps and Rickett's division 
of the 6th corps, who for hours held 
the approaches to the ravine — while 
the 8th corps was swinging around the 
enemy's flank — Early, in the mean- 
time, having massed his forces against 
them. At 3 o'clock, the cavalry, with 
the 8th corps, charged the enemy's left 
flank. The entire army now advanced. 
The wood in which the enemy had con- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



243 



centrated was quickly carried, and the 
foe fled from it in great haste, leaving 
behind their guns and accoutrements. 
Tlie retreat soon became a disastrous 
rout. The enemy fled through Win- 
chester in confusion. Col. Davis, of 
this regiment, was in command of the 
1st brigade. In the hottest of the 
tight, he was at the front cheering his 
troops. At one time he seized one of 
the regimental color standards, and 
bearing it aloft, pressed forward, in- 
spiring his men with new enthusiasm. 

The victory was complete. It was 
believed that the 19th corps suffered 
most severely in this battle, having 
lost 1940 in killed and wounded. Capts. 
DeWandelaer and Jacob C. Klock, of 
this regiment, were found in the house 
of a rebel Congressman. Capt. Klock 
was severely wounded. He was, how- 
ever, enabled to return to his home in 
St. Johnsville, where, after being pro- 
moted major, he died, Oct. 4, 1864. 
Post Klock, No. 70, G. A. R., of Fort 
Plain, N. Y., was named in honor of 
this gallant officer. After the battle 
of Opequan creek or Winchester, the 
enemy were pursued 8 miles south, to 
Fisher's Hill, where they were found 
strongly fortified between two moun- 
tain ranges. From this stronghold 
they were completely routed on the 
22d, giving Sheridan possession of 
Fisher's Hill, the most formidable nat- 
ural barrier in the valley. Following 
up this victory, the Union forces pur- 
sued the enemy" night and day, har- 
assing and driving them through 
Woodstock, Mt. Jackson, Mt. Crau- 
ford and Staunton to Waynesborough, 
destroying flouring mills and vast 
quantities of grain. 

While in the valley 22 of the men 
were captured by Moseby. Seven of 
them he decided to hang, because Cus- 
ter had executed seven of his guerillas 
at Fort Royal. The number having 
been selected by lot, it was ordered 
that they be put to death half a mile 
west of Berryville. Four of the con- 
demned escaped, yet not until they 
had been severely wounded; the other 
three were hanged. One of these was 
a member of the 153d. 

On the 30th of September, the troops 
started down the valley, and on the 
10th of October crossed Cedar creek 
and encamped. October 18th the 1st 
and part of the 2d division proceeded 
on a reconnoisance, nearly as far as 
Strasburg. They found the rebels en- 
camped here, and also discovered that 
the enemy were again strongly en- 
trenched at Fisher's Hill. 

On the 15th Sheridan made a flying 
visit to Washington, leaving Gen. 
Wright, of the 6th corps, in command. 
Early, aware of Sheridan's absence, 
and having been reinforced by Long- 
street's corps, attacked our army in 
force at daybreak on the 19th. The 



8th corps was surprised and driven 
back in confusion.' The 6th and 19th 
corps were soon ordered to retire from 
the position. The enemy captured our 
guns and turned them upon our sol- 
diers, who checked this onset and then 
fell back. Sheridan, returning from 
Washington and learning of the dis- 
aster hastened to his army, which had 
retreated several miles. He at once 
formed a line of battle, and as he dash- 
ed along the ranks, said: "Never 
mind, boys, we'll whip them yet." The 
air was rent with responsive cheers 
from his men. At one o'clock the 
pickets of the 19th corps were vigor- 
ously attacked and driven in by the 
enemy. Our line now pressed for- 
ward on a double quick and soon re- 
ceived a severe fire, but continued 
steadily to advance, when the enemy 
opened fire upon the right flank, the 
line swinging to the right to meet it. 
It was soon found that the rebels were 
retreating to the left, when the line 
was immediately turned in that direc- 
tion, and the enemy were driven in 
confusion from behind a temporary 
breastwork. Their retreat now be- 
came a rout, and was followed up by 
our troops, until they retook the 
breastworks from which they had been 
driven in the morning, the 153d regi- 
ment being among the first to occupy 
the works. Following the pursuit al- 
most to Sti'asburg, the Union forces 
encamped, and on the 21st returned to 
their old quarters near Cedar creek. 
Col. Davis, of the 153d, was made Brig- 
adier General by brevet for his brav- 
ery at this battle. 

On the 9th of November, the army 
left Cedar creek and encamped near 
Newtown. Here the troops remained 
until December 29th, when they broke 
camp and marched to Stevenson's 
depot, the terminus of the Harper's 
Ferry and Winchester railroads; here 
they began to erect winter quarters 
near the depot in a grove of oak and 
black walnut. On the 23d of March, 
1865, this regiment was sent across to 
Snicker's gap, but returned the follow- 
ing day without adventure. At mid- 
night, April 9th, the booming of can- 
non announced the surrender of Lee. 
April 11th the regiment moved to Sum- 
mit Point, and on the 20th they left 
this place by cars for Washington. 
While passing Harper's Ferry, Fink, 
of Company C, was killed. On the fol- 
lowing day this regiment encamped 
near Fort Stevens, at Washington, and 
took part in the grand review of veter- 
ans at that place, April 23d and 24th. 

On the 6th of June, 1865, the 153d 
embarked on the steamer Oriental, for 
Savannah, Georgia, where it arrived 
on the 13th. Colonel — now Brig.-Gen- 
eral by brevet — Davis was in command 
of the city, which this regiment now 
guarded. Dr. A. L. Snow was here 



244 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



promoted Brigade- Surgeon, and was 
afterward assigned the position of 
health officer of the district and city 
of Savannah. 

Major Charles P. Putnam died here, 
after a severe but brief illness. This 
brave officer had been with the regi- 
ment from the lirst. On the 9tli his 
remains were borne by his comrades to 
the beautiful Laurel Grove cemetery. 
They w^ere brought north at the time 
of the return of the regiment, and in- 
terred in the cemetery at Fultonville, 
near his former home. Adjutant A. V. 
Davis was now promoted to the rank 
of major, an honor richly merited. 

On the 5th of October, this regi- 
ment took the steamer "Emilie" for the 
north by the way of Hilton Head, 
which place was reached the same 
day. On the 7th the 153d -left by the 
steamer "McLellan" for New York, ar- 
riving there on the 10th of October, 
and on the 11th took the "Mary Ben- 
ton" for Albany. Here a large num- 
ber of the sick were taken to the "Ira 
Harris" hospital. Of them twelve or 
fourteen died, several at Albany, the 
others after reaching their homes. On 
the 16th of October, 1865, the men 
were mustered out of the service and 
paid off. 

The two guidons of the regiment, of 
white silk, with "153" in the centre, 
were presented by Mrs. Joseph Strain, 
at Albany, and carried through the 
campaign in the southwest. The regi- 
mental banner is of blue silk, bearing 
the arms and motto of the United 
States and the legend "153d N. Y. Vol. 
Regiment Infantry." 



Beers has the following reference to 
the 97th Regiment New Y''ork Volun- 
teers. 53 Fulton county men were en- 
rolled in the 97th: 

The 97th Regiment New York Vol- 
unteers, was organized in Booneville, 
N. Y., under command of Col. Chas. 
Wheelock, and was mustered into the 
service February 18th, 1862. The regi- 
ment left Booneville for Washington 
March 12th, but remained in Albany 
for one week, and only arrived in New 
York March 18th, where the troops 
received the Enfield rifled musket. The 
97th arrived in Washington March 
20th. In May the regiment was as- 
signed to Gen. Duryee's brigade. Gen. 
Rickett's division, and was under Gen. 
McDowell's command during the ad- 
vance in the Shenandoah Valley, in 
June, 1862. 

The regiment was in ten battles and 
suffered great loss, being reduced to 
less than 100 effective men before the 
close of the war. During the months 
of September and October, 1863, it re- 
ceived a large number of conscripts. 
The regiment was attached to the 2d 



l)rigade, 2d division, 1st army corps, 
in December, 1863. It took part in the 
following engagements: Cedar Moun- 
tain, August 9, 1862; Rappahanock 
Station, August 23," 1862; Thorough- 
fare Gap, August 28, 1862; second Bull 
Run, August 30, 1862; Chantilla. Sep- 
tember 1, 1862; South Mountain, Md., 
September 14, 1862; Antietam, Md., 
September 17, 1862; first Fredericks- 
burg, December 13, 1862; Chancellors- 
ville, Va., May 1, 1863; Gettysburg, 
July 1-3, 1863. 



The following is a list of engage- 
ments participated in by Co. I, 10th N. 
Y. Cavalry, which was recruited main- 
ly from Mayfield and Broadalbin, Ful- 
ton county. 92 Fulton county men 
were enrolled in this organization: 

Louisa Court House, Va., May 4, 
1863; Brandy Station, Va., June 9, 
1863; Aldie, Va., June 17, 1863; Middle- 
burg, June 19, 1863; Upperville, Va., 
June 20, 1863; Gettysburg, Pa., July 2 
and 3, 1863; Shepherdstown, Va., July 
16, 1863; Sulphur Springs, Va., October 
12, 1863; Little Auburn and Brestoe 
Station, October 14, 1863; Mill Run, 
Va., November 24, 1863; The Wilder- 
ness, Va., May 5, 6, 7 and 8, 1864; 
Ground Squirrel Church, Va., May 11, 
1864; Defences of Richmond, Va., May 
12, 1864; Hanover Town, Va., May 28, 
1864; Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864; 

Trav Station. Va., June 11, 1864; 

White House Landing, Va., June 22, 
1864; St. Mary's Church, Va., June 24, 
1864; Gravel Church Hill, Va., July 28, 
1864; Lee's Mills, Va., July 30, 1864; 
Deep Bottom, Va., August 14 and 15, 
1864; Fisher's Hill, Va., August 18, 
1864; Weldon Rail Rqad, Va., August 
21, 1864; Ream's Station, Va., August 
23, 1864; Vaughn Road, Va., Septem- 
ber 30 and October 1, 1864; South Side 
Rail Road, Va., October 27, 1864; Des- 
pritanna Station, Va., November 18, 
1864; Stony Creek. Va., December 1, 
1864; Belfield Station. Va., December 
9, 1864; Janett's Station, Va., Decem- 
ber 10, 1864; Dinwiddle Court House, 
Va., March 31, 1865; grand cavalry 
charge. Sailor's Creek, Va., April 6, 
1865; Jettersville, Va., April 5, 1865; 
Fannville, Va., April 7, 1865; Appo- 
mattox Station, Va., April 9, 1865. 



Co. K, First Light Artillery, was known 
as the "Fort Plain Battery" because it 
was recruited at Fort Plain in the fall 
of '61. It was mustered in at Albany, 
Nov. 20, 1861. Its service began at 
Washington and in May, 1862, at Har- 
pers Ferry it joined the Second bri- 
gade, Siegel's division. It was with 
the Twelfth corps after June 26, 1862, 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



245 



until May 12, 1S63, when it was trans- 
ferred to the reserve artillery where it 
remained until March, 1864. It was 
later connected with the Twenty-sec- 
ond corps in the defense of Washing- 
ton. Battery K was mustered out at 
Elmira, N. Y., June 20, 1865. It then 
being under command of Capt. Stock- 
ing. Mason's History says, "the ser- 
vice of the First was light artillery 
and by batteries in the Army of the 
Potomac, also in the Army of Virginia, 
of the Cumberland, and of Georgia, 
and was of such a detached character 
that the official record of battles of the 
Fort Plain Battery cannot be separated 
from those of other batteries of the 
regiment." Capt. Lorenzo Crounse, 
who coinmanded Co. K when it was 
mustered in, later became governor of 
Nebraska. Most of the men of this 
organization came from Fort Plain 
and the adjoining country, and the 
company numbered 65 men on muster- 
ing in. 



1S62; Fredericksburg, Dec. 11-15, 1862; 
Franklin's Crossing, April 29 and May 
2, 1863; Marine's Heights and Salem 
Church, May 3-4, 1863. 



The Thirty-second regiment was re- 
cruited under one of the first calls for 
troops. It was organized in New York 
city and was mustered into service, 
for two years, May 31, 1861. On the 
expiration of this term, the three-year 
m,ten were transferred to the 121st 
New York. Company B was recruited 
at Canajoharie and Company D at Am- 
sterdam, but the names of these vol- 
unteers are missing, but they are esti- 
mated as numbering about 130 men. 
This regiment served for several 
weeks at Washington and Alexandria, 
after being mustered in. It was then 
attached to the Army of the Potomac 
until it was mustered out June 9, 
1863. Following is a summary of the 
battles of the Thirty-second: Fair- 
fax Court House, July 17, 1861; Black- 
burn's Ford, July 20, 1861; Bull Run, 
July 21, 1861; Munson's Hill, Aug. 25i. 
and Sept. 28, 1861; Anandale, Dec. 2, 
1861; West Point, Va., May 7, 1862; 
Seven Days' battles, June 25-July 2, 
1862; Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862; Gar- 
nett's and Golding's farms, June 28, 
1862; Glendale, June 30, 1862; Malvern 
Hill, July 1, 1862; Crampton Pass, 
Sept. 14, 1862; Antietam, Sept. 17, 



The Forty-third New York was or- 
ganized and mustered into service at 
Albany in September, 1861, for three 
years service. It was known variously 
as the "Albany and Yates Rifles" and 
"Vinton Rifles." It saw hard service 
and bore an honorable part in the 
campaigns of the Army of the Poto- 
mac. Co. E of this regiment was re- 
cruited at Canajoharie, that company 
numbering 70 volunteers, at the time 
of mustering in. The 43d served at 
and near Washington until Oct. 15, 
when it became part of Hancock's bri- 
gade. Smith's division, Army of the 
Potomac. Maj% 1862, it was made 
part of the first brigade, second divis- 
ion, sixth corps, and later was in the 
"Light Brigade" at Chancellorsville. It 
later formed part of the third bri- 
gade, second division, sixth corps, un- 
der command of Col. Charles A. Milli- 
kin. being mustered out of service at 
Washington, June 27, 1865. Its list of 
battles follows: Vienna and Flint 
Hill, Feb. 22, 1862; Siege of Yorktown, 
April 5 and May 4, 1862; Lee's Mills, 
April 16 and 28, 1862; Williamsburg, 
May 5, 1862; Seven days' battle, June 
25 to July 2, 1862; Garnett's Farm, 
June 27, 1862; Garnett's and Golding's 
Farms, June 28, 1862; Savage Station, 
June 29, 1862; White Oak Swamp 
Bridge, June 30. 1862; Malvern Hill, 
July 1, 1862; Sugar Loaf Mountain, 
Sept. 10-11, 1862; Crampton Pass, 
Sept. 14, 1862; Antietam, Sept. 17, 
1862; Fredericksburg, Dec. 11-15, 
1862; Marye's Heights and Salem 
church. May 3-4, 1863; Deep Run 
Crossing, June 5, 1863; Gettysburg, 
July 1-3, 1863; Fairfield, Pa., July 5, 
1863; Antietam and Marsh Run, July 
7, 1863; near Lietersburg, July 10, 
1863; Funkstown, July 11-13, 1863; 
Williamsport, July 14, 1863; Auburn, 
Oct. 13, 1863; Rappahannock Station, 
Nov. 7, 1863; Mine Run Campaign, 
Nov. 26 and Dec. 2, 1863; Wilderness, 
May 5-7. 1864; Spottsylvania Court 
House, May 8-21, 1864; Piney Branch 



246 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Church, May 8, 1864; Landron's Farm, 
May 10, 1864; the Salient, May 12, 
1864; North Anna, May 22-26, 1864; 
Tolopotomy, May 27-31, 1864; Cold 
Harbor, June 1-12, 1864; before Pet- 
ersburg, June 18, July 9 and Decem- 
ber, 1864, and April 2, 1865; Assault 
of Petersburg, June 18-19, 1864; Wel- 
don railroad, June 21-23, 1864; Fort 
Stevens, July 12-13, 1864; Charles- 
town, Aug. 21, 1864; Opequan Creek, 
Sept. 13, 1864; Opequan, Sept. 19, 
1864; Fisher's Hill, Sept. 22, 1864; 
Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864; Peters- 
burg Works, March 22, 1865; Appo- 
mattox campaign, March 28 and April 
9, 1865; Fall of Petersburg, April 2, 
1865; Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865; 
Appomatox Court House, April 9, 1865. 



The Thirteenth Heavy Artillery had 
33 Montgomery county and 71 Fulton 
county men in its ranks or 104 in all. 
It was mustered in by companies the 
latter part of 1863 and early part of 
1864. The official record of the battles 
of the Thirteenth is as follows: Before 
Petersburg and Richmond, May 5 and 
31, 1864; before Peterburg, June 15, 
1864; assault on Petersburg, June 15 
and 17, 1864; Swift Creek, Oct. 7, 1864; 
Day's Point, Nov. 14, 1864; Fort Fisher, 
Dec. 25, 1864, Jan. 15, 1865; fall of 
Petersburg, April 2, 1865. 



In the Sixteenth Heavy Artillery 
were 36 men from Montgomery and 8 
from Fulton, a total of 44. The Mont- 
gomery men came from the towns of 
Minden, St. Johnsville and Canajo- 
harie and were enrolled in Companies 
F and H. The Sixteenth was mustered 
in at Elmira and left the state in de- 
tachments, the local companies going 
in January, 1864. The regiment was 
recruited in New York city by Col. 
Joseph J. Morrison, its commanding 
officer. The regiment served as heavy 
artillery and infantry at Fortress Mon- 
roe, Yorktown and Gloucester Point, 
later being divided and sent on de- 
tached service. It was mustered out at 
Washington, Aug. 31, 1865. 



On Monday and Tuesday, August 26 
and 27, 1912, was held the fiftieth an- 



niversary and the thirty-first annual 
reunion of the 115th and 153d New 
York Volunteer Regiments at Fonda, 
N. Y. This historic occasion, for the 
counties of Montgomery and Fulton, 
is reported as follows in the Mohawk 
Valley Democrat, Fonda, August 29, 
1912: 

Fifty years ago today Fonda sent 
forth the first fully organized regiment 
from this congressional district to de- 
fend the flag of our Union, to main- 
tain our country as one undivided 
whole, and to uphold the constitution 
of the founders of bur government 
which declares that before the law all 
men are free and equal. 

The outbreak of the Civil war found 
the political situation in Montgomery 
county to be much the same as in 
otiier sections of the state, and while 
at times there were murmurings and 
dissatisfaction, they were not of such 
character as to cause general alarm. 

During the course of the war Mont- 
gomery county furnished men for 
twenty different regiments, although 
in several of them the representation 
was quite small. In May, 1S61, the 
32d was accepted and of the several 
companies B was recruited at Cana- 
joharie and D at Amsterdam. The 
42d regiment was despatched in Sep- 
tember, 1861, and Canajoharie furnish- 
ed the greater portion of Co. E. This 
was one of the hardest fighting regi- 
ments in tlie Army of the Potomac. 

The lloth contained more Montgom- 
ery county recruits than any to which 
the county contriliuted and was raised 
at a time when the government was 
in great need of volunteers during the 
trying summer of 1862. Companies A, 
B, D, G, H, I and K contained men 
from this county, forming almost half 
of the entire regiment. The regiment 
was mustered into service at Fonda on 
August 26, 1862, by Captain Edgerton 
of the regular army and broke camp 
on August 29, 1862. 

The 153d regiment was recruited 
soon afterward, seven of its companies 
being from this and Fulton counties, 
the Montgomery county men being 
mostl.v in companies B, C and E. It 
also was mustered into service at 
Fonda, which took place on October 14, 
1862. 

The regimental organizations of 
these two commands have for the past 
thirty years held annual reunions in 
various iilaces . in this congressional 
district, but they have always held 
them at separate times and in differ- 
ent localities. 

This year being the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of their departure for the seat of 
war it was agreed to hold a joint re- 
union here, the place that they were 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



247 



mustered into the service. It was very 
fitting that Fonda should be selected 
for their semi-centennial and the peo- 
ple here have shown their apprecia- 
tion of the honor by the splendid 
reception accorded them. Veterans 
have been looking forward to this for 
a year and some of them traveled long 
distances to participate in the event. 
Several came from Iowa and Comrade 
M. B. Foote of Hastings, Neb., was in 
California when he received his no- 
tice and started at once across the 
continent, arriving here Monday morn- 
ing. Others came from Wisconsin and 
Ohio. 

The festivities commenced on Mon- 
day evening, when an association 
camp fire was held by Co. C of the 
115th regiment, but was broadened by 
invitation to include not only the 115th 
and 153d regiments, but 'also the pub- 
lic. This was held in the old court 
house hall, which was artistically 
draped with the national colors. At 
the back of the rostrum were hung the 
portraits of Col. Simeon Sammons and 
Garret Van Derveer, captain of Co. A, 
both of the 115th; also that of Colonel 
Edwin P. Davis of the 153d regiment. 
In the northwest corner a tent was 
stretched and beside it was an old 
camp kettle and a stack of arms. 

Comrade James E. Reid of Boston 
presided over the meeting. 

Most interesting exercises were held 
here, including experiences given by 
comrades. 

The hall wa's packed with people, at 
least 500 being present, and many 
were turned away as it was impos- 
sible for them to gain admittance. 

On Tuesday the general reunion of 
the two regiments occurred. The meet- 
ing at 9 a. m. was called to order by 
A. H. Mills, chairman of the citizens' 
committee. The Rev. Washington 
Frothingham made the opening prayer. 
The address of welcome was delivered 
by Harry Y. MacNeil, president of the 
village, who extended the veterans a 
most hearty and cordial greeting. This 
was responded to by Comrade James 
E. Reid for the 115th and by Comrade 
C. B. Clute for the 153d. After this 
the two regiments separated and held 
their organization meetings in execu- 
tive session. 

At one o'clock the two regiments 
formed into line and preceded by the 
veteran drum corps marched to the 
Reformed church, where the members 
of the D. A. R. served a bountiful and 
delicious dinner. 

After refreshments the visitors were 
conveyed in autos to the grave of Col. 
Sammons. about a mile north of the 
village, where he lies burled on the an- 
cestral family farm which he owned 
during his lifetime and has been in 
the family for several generations and 
is still occupied by them. At the time 



of the Revolution it was occupied by 
Sampson Sammons and his sons, who 
were sturdy and uncompromising pa- 
triots, the father being a member of 
tile Committee of Safety, a most hon- 
orable and at the same time dangerous 
office to hold. This spot is only a short 
distance from the old camp ground 
where the two regiments were muster- 
ed into service. It was called Camp 
Mohawk. 

One of the most interesting features 
of the celebration was the stirring old 
time music furnished by the veteran 
drum corps, which included all the 
familiar airs of fifty years ago. Adam 
Yovmg of Fonda was one of the snare 
drummers. The others were all from 
this county and were 70 years or more 
of age. During the, afternoon while 
the St. Johnsville band was giving a 
concert in the park the drum corps 
flFed the waits with the inspiring 
martial music of war times. 

About 350 people partook of the re- 
freshments and all pronounced them 
most delicious. 

The veterans have gone to their sev- 
eral homes, but it is doubtful if age 
will ever dim the recollection of their 
semi-centennial at Fonda in 1912. 

Exactly 100 members of the 115th 
Regiment answered to roll call at this 
their fiftieth anniversary and thirty- 
first reunion. Forty-two of the 153d 
answered to roll call at Fonda, 142 
veterans being present for both regi- 
ments out of the llSl that are known 
to have gone to the front from Mont- 
gomery and Fulton counties. 



Since the foregoing chapter was 
written (in which reference was made 
to the lack of published experiences of 
Civil war soldiers from the Mohawk 
valley) two valley newspapers have 
started interesting publications re- 
garding personal descriptions and im- 
pressions of local veterans written by 
them on the field during the Rebellion. 

The Mohawk Valley Register is at 
present (October, 1913) republishing 
letters from the field, written fifty 
years ago by Lieut. Angell Matthew- 
son of Co. K, First Light Artillery 
(known as the Fort Plain Battery), to 
the Register, of which he was then one 
of the editors and proprietors. These 
are very interesting and particularly 
so to readers of western Montgomery 
county, many of whom are relatives or 
friends of the local members of this 
famous military organization. Mr. 
Matthewson died in 1913. 

The Herkimer Citizen has been 



248 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



printing, for eight months (since Jan- 
uary, 1913) letters and diaries, written 
by members of the 34th New York. 
This was a Herkimer county regi- 
ment, five of its companies having 
been recruited from that county. It 
was mustered in June 15, 1861, and 
mustered out June 30, 1863. The 34th. 
was in fierce fighting during McClel- 
lan's advance on and retreat from 
Richmond in the summer of '62 and 
particularly distinguished itself in a 
famous charge at Fair Oaks which is 
said to have won the battle for the 
federal forces. On June 17, 1863, the 
regiment was given a great ovation on 
its return to Herkimer county at Lit- 
tle Falls. It had three colonels, Ladue, 
Suiter and Laflin. Col. Suiter was in 
command during the fighting before 
Richmond in which the regiment lost 
very heavily, and Col. Laflin was in 
command of the regiment at the time 
of its famovis reception by the citizens 
of Little Falls. At this time the staff 
oflicers were: Colonel, Byron Laflin; 
lieutenant-colonel, John Beverly; ma- 
jor, Wells Sponable; adjutant, John 
Kirk; quartermaster, Nathan Easter- 
brooks; surgeon, S. F. Manley; assist- 
ant surgeon, J. Hurley Miller; chap- 
lain, S. Franklin Schoonmaker. 

The letters and journals of the Her- 
kimer county boys in this famous 
body, which the Citizen has published, 
form most absorbing reading and give 
a graphic picture of the soldier's life 
from the private's point of view. This 
is particularly true of Private W. J. 
McLean, who wrote a diary of his life 
and the army's movements, battles 
and retreats, in the campaign of the 
Army of the Potomac during 1862, be- 
fore Richmond. Both these Civil war 
publications (those of the Register 
and the Citizen) deserve permanent 
preservation as they give an insight 
into the miseries of war and the life of 
the soldier, such as the regular his- 
tories absolutely fail of providing. 

Sept. 17, 1913, at Herkimer, during 
appropriate public exercises, the col- 
ors of the 34th Regiment were pre- 
sented to the Herkimer Historical so- 
ciety by James Suiter, life president 
of the 34th Regiment association and 



son of Ccl. Suiter. They had been pre- 
served for nearly fifty years by Major 
Wells Sponable of the 34th, who turn- 
ed them over to Mr. Suiter shortly be- 
fore his death in 1911. A reunion of 
the 34th was held at Herkimer on the 
same date (Sept. 17, 1913) and over 
thirt.v veterans of the organization 
were present, this year being the fif- 
tieth anniversary of the mustering out 
of the regiment. Among the old sol- 
diers, who answered the roll call, were 
several whose letters and diaries, writ- 
ten on the field when young men half 
a century ago, have made such en- 
tertaining reading in the Herkimer 
Citizen for the past few months. Mr. 
McLean, the author of the diary men- 
tioned was one of these. This reunion 
was held on the fifty-first anniversary 
of the battle of Antietam, Md., in which 
the 34th bore a gallant part in the re- 
pulse of the Confederates from Union 
soil. This was the bloodiest single 
day's fighting of the Civil war and the 
34th lost heavily. Other regiments in 
which Herkimer , county was repre- 
sented were the 81st, 97th and 121st. 

In July, 1913, was held the fiftieth 
anniversary of the battle of Gettys- 
burg on the field of action, which is 
said to have defeated the Confederacy. 

Fifty thousand veterans attended 
this historic event, a number of them 
going from the Mohawk valley. A 
great many of old boys in grey took 
part in this reunion, which is said to 
have marked the absolute and final 
reunion of the north and south. A 
similar anniversary was held at Chick- 
amauga in September, 1913 (in what 
was once rebel territory), largely par- 
ticipated in V,)y blue and gray veterans 
who fought on that bloody battle- 
ground. 



Colonel Angell Matthewson was born 
in Pulaski, Oswego county. New York, 
June 8, 1837, and received his educa- 
tion in the academy of that town. 
When only 15 years of age he com- 
menced working at the printer's 
trade in the office of the Pulaski 
Democrat. At 21 he was foreman of 
the job department of the Daily Pal- 
ladium in Oswego, and a year later was 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



249 



city editor of the same paper. In 1859 
he became associated with the Morn- 
ing Herald office of Utica, N. Y., and 
went shortly after to Fort Plain, N. 
Y., where he became proprietor of the 
Mohawk Valley Register. In 1861 he 
enlisted in the Union army and raised 
a company in his home town in New 
York, of which he became second lieu- 
tenant. Lorenzo Crounse, afterwards 
governor of Nebraska, was captain of 
the same company. This company 
rendezvoused at Elmira, in Septem- 
ber, 1861, where it was attached to the 
First New York Light Artillery, as 
Battery K of that regiment. May 18, 
1861, Lieutenant Matthewson was ap- 
pointed post adjutant at Camp Berry,' 
Washington, I). C. 

May 30, 1862, at Bolivar Heights, 
near Harper's Ferry, with a single 
piece of artillery, he routed the 
enemy's sharp shooters, and engaged 
a four-gun battery for half an hour, 
handling his gun with such judgment 
and skill that the only damage sus- 
tained was the disabling of one of the 
wheels of the gun carriage by a solid 
shot from the enemy, while the 
enemy's loss, as reported by Major 
Gardner of the Fifth New York Cav- 
alry, was seven killed and upwards of 
50 wounded. For his services on this 
occasion, he was appointed ordinance 
officer on the staff of Major-General 
FVanz Sigel, June 7, 1862, and after- 
wards served in the same capacity on 
the staffs of Generals Cooper and Au- 
gur. November, 1862, he was promoted 
to first lieutenant and assigned to 
duty with Battery D of his regiment. 
May 23, 1863, he was appointed adju- 
tant of his regiment and May 25 was 
appointed acting assistant adjutant- 
general of the Artillery Brigade, First 
Corps, Army of the Potomac, which 
position he held one year. July 1, 1864, 
he was promoted to captain of his 
company for meritorious service at 
North Anna River, Va., May 22, 1864, 
where he was shot through the thigh 
with a minnie ball, while in com- 
mand of Battery D and fighting almost 
a forlorn hope. He was in service un- 
til the end of the war, three years and 
nine months, and was mustered out 



at Elmira, N. Y., June 17, 1865. He 
was engaged in the following battles: 
Harper's Ferry, Cedar Mountain, Rap- 
pahannock Station, Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine 
Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North 
Anna River, Siege of Petersburg, Wel- 
don Railroad, Hatcher's Run and Lee's 
surrender at Appomattox Court House. 

After the close of the war Colonel 
Matthewson returned to Fort Plain, 
where he continued to engage in the 
newspaper business and also pur- 
chased the Canajoharie Radii, which 
he conducted for a number of years. 
In 1868 he was nominated and elected 
on the Democratic ticket to the lower 
house of the New York legislature 
from Montgomery county and served 
in that capacity for two years. At 
the close of his service in the legisla- 
ture he determined to go west and 
disposed of his newspaper interests in 
New York. When he reached Kansas 
City he was offered the position of 
city editor of the Kansas City Journal, 
but from friends in New York he had 
heard of the founding of a new town 
by the name of Parsons, and deter- 
mined to go to the place in the up- 
building of which he subsequently be- 
came such a powerful factor. 

When Colonel Matthewson was east 
in 1912, he visited the old Gettysburg 
battlefield, where he had served so 
brilliantly as a captain in the Union 
army, and walked over the field with 
a guide, an old veteran of the battle, 
and came to a spot where the guide 
said: "Here is where a battery of 
Union artillery was posted to shell the 
Confederate ranks. They were firing 
too high and their shells went wild, 
doing absolutely no good whatever. A 
Confederate battery was turned on 
them, however, and commenced to 
wreak havoc among the Union forces 
stationed here. About that time a 
young captain in the Union army came 
up, relieved the officer in charge of the 
battery, telling him his aim was poor, 
ordered the direction of the guns low- 
ered and with telling and accurate aim 
silenced within a few minutes the Con- 
federate battery which was doing so 
much damage to our forces." 



250 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



"Do you know who that captain 
was?" asked Colonel Matthewson. 

The guide replied that he did not. 

"I was the man," modestly admitted 
the Colonel. 

And the monument that marks the 
battlefield contains the name of Angell 
Matthewson in commemoration of his 
valiant service to the Union cause at 
that great battle. 

Colonel Matthewson died at his 
home in Parsons, Kansas, Jan. 15, 
1913, after a long, useful and success- 
ful career both as soldier and citizen. 



Col. Simeon Sammons, colonel of the 
115th New York regiment during the 
Civil war, was born in the town of 
Mohawk in 1811. He was the son of 
Hon. Thomas Sammons, who was a 
Revolutionary soldier and patriot and 
who collected the celebrated "Sam- 
mons papers," frequently referred to 
and some of which are reprinted in 
this work. Thomas Sammons was for 
two terms a member of congress. 
Sampson Sammons was the grand- 
father of Col. Sammons and had 
charge of Johnson Hall, under the 
Tryon County Committee, during the 
Revolution. Col. Sammons was edu- 
cated at Johnstown Academy and later 
held a commission in the militia. He 
was chosen colonel of the 115th, Au- 
gust, 1862, and was twice wounded 
during his service. After the war Col. 
Sammons was elected to the New 
York assembly for one term and also 
filled the offlce of harbor master of the 
port of New York. He died in 1881, 
aged 70 years. 



CHAPTER IV. 
1892, Barge Canal Recommendation of 
State Engineer Martin Schenck — 
1900, Report of the Greene Canal 
Commission, Barge Canal Survey — 
1903, Passage of $101,000,000 Barge 
Canal Act — 1905, Work Begun on 
Champlain Canal Section — Locks 
Widened to 45 Feet — Features of the 
Mohawk River Canalization. 

I ha\e lately made a tour through 
the Lakes Genrge and Champ'ain as 
far as Crown Point. Thence returning 
to Schenectady, I proceeded up the 



Mohawk river to Fort Schuyler and 
crossed over to Wood creek, which 
empties into the Oneida lake, and af- 
fords the water communication with 
Ontario. I then traversed the country 
to the eastern branch of the Susque- 
hanna, and viewed the Lake Otsego, 
and the portage between that lake and 
the Mohawk river at Canajoharie. 
Prompted l)y these actual observa- 
tions, I could not help taking a more 
extensive view of the vast inland navi- 
gation of these United States, from 
maps and the information of others, 
and could not hut be struck by the 
immense extent and importance of it, 
and with the goodness of Providence, 
which has dealt its favors to us with 
so profuse a hand. Would to God we 
may have wisdom enough to improve 
them. — From a letter to Count Chas- 
telleaux written by General Washing- 
ton, after his journey up the Mohawk 
river in 1783. (See Chapter XXIV, First 
Series.) 

This present chapter describes the 
New York state Barge canal, now 
(1913) nearing completion, and is the 
sixth chapter treating of transporta- 
tion in the Mohawk valley. Prior ones 
have covered Mohawk river trafHc, 
highways, bridges, Erie canal and rail- 
road building. The seventh and last 
sketch regarding valley transportation 
methods will be the one describing the 
first aeroplane flight over the course 
of the Mohawk. This is also the fifth 
chapter in the series which considers 
the Mohawk river in its various fea- 
tures. This series has comprised the 
following subjects: Mohawk river and 
valley, Mohawk river traffic, river and 
other bridges, Erie canal, Barge canal. 

The Barge canal is the most import- 
ant engineering work in all the world's 
history, not in the working difficulties 
encountered (which may be at their 
utmost in the Panama canal) but in 
the population concerned, in volume of 
available trade, and in future possi- 
bilities, in which the Barge canal 
promises to far surpass any water- 
way or land trade route now or ever 
in existence, not excepting the Panama 
or the Suez canals. The greatest won- 
der connected with the whole work of 
the Barge canal is not its immense 
importance to half the hundred million 
people of North America but the fact 
that it has been practically completed 
at this time (1913) with hardly a sin- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



251 



gle proper exposition of the importance 
of the work for the enlightenment of 
the people of the United States, with 
the single exception of the very inter- 
esting exploitation of the matter in 
the "Live Wire" of August 1, 1913, 
published by the Buffalo Chamber of 
Commerce, from which verbatim ex- 
tracts are made in this chapter. There 
are millions of people in the United 
States who have never heard of the 
Barge canal, whereas the Panama en- 
terprise is known practically to the 
entire population. More people of this 
country, and of the entire region of 
North America, will receive greater 
benefits from the Barge canal than 
from the waterway which bisects the 
Isthmus of Panama. 

This paramount importance of the 
Barge canal to all the people of the 
middle west, the northwest and the 
eastern states and Atlantic seaboard, 
can be proven by reference to the ton- 
nage figures of the Sault Ste. Marie 
canal (between Lakes Superior and 
Huron) and that of the Suez canal. In 
1910, the "Soo" passed a tonnage of 36 
million while the Suez reported 23 mil- 
lion tons. Much of the Great Lakes 
traffic must find its outlet by way of 
the Barge canal and there is every in- 
dication that its tonnage figures will 
equal and proba'bly greatly surpass 
those of the Sault Ste. Marie. 

If Elkanah Watson was the "father" 
of the o'.d improved Mohawk waterway 
of 1796 and Jesse Hawley was the 
"father" of the Erie canal of 1825, be- 
cause their writings and activities 
were the first powerful means of fur- 
thering these projects, then the honor 
of being the "parent" of the Barge 
canal belongs to a Mohawk valley man 
and a native of Montgomery county — 
Martin Schenck. He is entitled to 
this distinction for the same reason 
as Watson and Hawley are entitled to 
theirs. His was the first public and 
definite proposal for a canal of the 
Barge canal type, made in his report 
of 1892, when Mr. Schenck was state 
engineer and surveyor. Martin 

Schenck was born at the old Schenck 
place near the mouth of Knauderack 
creek, which runs through Schenck's 



Hollow, just west of the north side 
"Nose" in the town of Palatine. 

In this place it is well to state that 
Watson and Hawley were but two of 
many men who had advocated a lakes- 
to-the-sea waterway (by way of the 
Mohawk valley) from the earliest days 
of the co'-ony. They take their distinc- 
tion from the fact that they were the 
first to put their plans before the pub- 
lic in a practical, concrete form, just 
as Martin Schenck was the first to ad- 
vocate publicly a Barge canal of a def- 
inite type, allied to the present un- 
dertaking. Hawley, Geddes and For- 
man were all instrumental in the in- 
itial advancement of the Erie (or 
Grand) canal project, probably in the 
order named. Clinton did not take 
hold until the plan had already assum- 
ed a definite form, but his political 
power was one of the main causes for 
the act authorizing the canal work, 
and he, to a certain extent, deserves 
the title of the "father of the Erie 
canal." The whole question of the 
originator of the canal idea has been 
threshed out for a century. The fact 
of the matter is that there have been 
hundreds of influential New York 
state men who have aided the cause of 
state waterways from the days of the 
Inland Lock Navigation company. No 
one man is entitled to the sole credit 
of an idea so long in the minds of 
many men, but the canal projectors 
mentioned have well-earned distinc- 
tion on account of their public labors 
mentioned. 

The Barge Canal Bulletin, under 
date of August, 1909, carried an ar- 
ticle on "The Evolution of the Barge 
Canal," which described the efforts of 
the friends of the canals in behalf of 
the improvement and efficiency of the 
state waterways, from the completion 
of the Erie in 1825 to the successful 
culmination of* their efforts in securing 
the legislative enactment of the Barge 
canal acts. The essay mentioned con- 
tains the following: 

"The first official presentation, of 
what is practically and distinctively 
the form of the present thousand-ton 
Barge canal, seems to have been con- 



252 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



tained in the annual report for 1892, of 
State Engineer and Surveyor Martin 
Schenck, who said: 'The practical 
canal of the future, connecting Lake 
Erie and the Hudson river, ought to be 
one capable of bearing barges, 250 feet 
in length by 25 feet breadth of beam, 
of a draft not to exceed 10 feet, and of 
such a height that the great majority 
of bridges, that should span the canal, 
might be fixed structures instead of 
drawbridges. With the proposed canal 
(which could be built for a reasonable 
sum), bearing barges towed in fleets, 
each boat carrying 50,000 bushels of 
wheat, New York would be enabled to 
hold her commercial supremacy against 
all comers for many years to come.' " 

While Mr. Schenck's plan was not 
immediately adopted yet it probably 
blazed the way for the Barge canal, the 
initial legislative measures for the con- 
struction of which were adopted eleven 
years later in 1903. The legislature, of 
the same year in which Mr. Schenck 
wrote his "Barge canal message," pro- 
vided for a constitutional convention, 
which, among its other duties was to 
consider amendments relative to canal 
improvement. The constitutional con- 
vention met in 1894 and among its 
amendments was one providing that 
the canals might be improved in such 
manner as the legislature should pro- 
vide by law. This was carried at the 
election of 1894, and was generally 
considered as a public mandate to 
the legislature to undertake the im- 
provement of the New York state 
canals. The amendment became oper- 
ative Jan. 1, 1895, and the legislature 
of that year passed an act authorizing 
the deepening of the Erie and Oswego 
canals to 9 feet and the Champlain 
canal to 7 feet. The project was a 
failure, the appropriation of nine mil- 
lion dollars being insufficient for the 
work and charges of graft and swindl- 
ing were rife at the time. 

On March 8, 1899, Gov. Roosevelt ap- 
pointed a committee of citizens, headed 
by Gen. Francis V. Greene, who were 
to consider the whole state canal ques- 
tion and report on the same. The 
"Barge Canal Bulletin" says: "The 
date of this appointment marks the 



real beginning of the Barge canal en- 
terprise as we know it today." Earlj"^ 
in 1900 this committee reported, after 
a thorough study of the entire prob- 
lem. They emphatically recommended 
that the canals should not be aban- 
doned (a policy which was advocated 
by many citizens of the time) but pro- 
posed the enlargement of the Erie, 
Champlain and Oswego canals — the 
Erie to a size suitable for 1,000-ton 
barges and the Champlain and Oswego 
to a 9 foot depth — practically the 
same recommendations that Mr. 
Schenck had made eight years before. 
This would allow of the use of boats 
on the Erie 150 feet long, 25 wide, 
drawing 10 feet of water. The locks 
were to be 310 feet long by 28 feet 
wide, with 11 feet of water on the 
sills. The route followed closely the 
line of the present Barge canal con- 
struction. Upon the submission of this 
report the legislature appropriated 
$200,000 for Barge canal surveys and 
estimates. Data had been gathered 
shortly before, over much of the pro- 
posed route, by the U. S. Deep Water- 
way Survey and this was available and 
hastened the preliminary work. The 
report of the survey was submitted to 
the legislature, March 15, 1901. Con- 
flicting interests deferred legislative 
action until 1903, when a bill appro- 
priating $82,000,000 was introduced, 
providing for the improvement of the 
Erie canal, Oswego canal and the 
Champlain canal. The estimate of 
cost was later raised to $100,592,993 
and the bill as revised was submitted 
to the people at the election of 1903 
and was carried. This law, with its 
subsequent amendments, came to be 
known as the $101,000,000 Barge canal 
act of 1903, and under its provisions 
the Barge canal is now under construc- 
tion. Says the Barge Canal Bulletin: 
"In brief, the act provided for the 
issuance of eighteen-year bonds for 
canal improvement to the amount of 
not exceeding $101,000,000, not more 
than $10,000,000 to be issued within 
two years after passage of the act. A 
general annual tax of twelve-thous- 
andths of a mill was authorized for 
each million of dollars in bonds out- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



253 



standing in any fiscal year. The 
State Engineer and the Superintendent 
of Public Works were directed to be- 
gin improvements to the canals upon 
the basis of a channel 75 feet in width 
on the bottom, 12 feet of water and 
at least 1,128 square feet of water 
cross-section, except at aqueducts and 
through cities and villages, where the 
width might be reduced and the cross- 
section of water modified as deemed 
necessary by the State Engineer, with 
the approval of the Canal Board. In 
rivers and lakes the channel was to 
have a minimum bottom width of 200 
feet, a minimum depth of 12 feet and 
at least 2,400 square feet of water 
cross-section. The locks were to be 
328 feet long by 28 feet wide in the 
clear, and with 11 feet of water on the 
miter-sills. 

"Routes to be followed and details 
of construction were fixed. In general 
the route of the Erie was by way of 
the Hudson river from Troy to Water- 
ford; thence by a new channel to the 
Mohawk above Cohoes falls, and up the 
canalized Mohawk to Rome, with a 
few diversions to the existing canal; 
thence down the valley of Wood creek, 
across Oneida lake, down Oneida river 
to Three River Point and up Seneca 
river to the mouth of Crusoe creek; 
thence by a new route to the existing 
canal at Clyde, whence the line of the 
existing canal was to be followed gen- 
erally to the Niagara river at Tona- 
wanda, and by this river and Black 
Rock harbor to Lake Erie. All work 
was to be by contract and provisions 
for the condemnation of necessary 
lands and for the sale of abandoned 
portions of the canal were made. An 
Advisory Board of five expert civil 
engineers and a Special Deputy State 
Engineer were authorized. The criti- 
cisms of the various commissions, that 
were appointed to consider canal af- 
fairs after the 1895 improvement, were 
heeded in part by vesting most of the 
responsibility for the work in the State 
Engineer, giving him authority over 
the preparation of plans and the su- 
pervision of construction, including 
both engineering and inspection." It 
will be noted that the foregoing route 



utilizes the natural waterways of the 
Mohawk and Oswego river valleys 
(joined by the Wood creek line) over 
two-thirds of the route. The Mohawk 
river section comprises a third of the 
Erie route of the Barge canal system. 

"Since the passage of the act of 
1903, a score or more amendatory pro- 
visions have been made, many of 
which refer to its financing or to mat- 
ters of administrative detail. One 
only have we space to speak of here — 
the widening of the locks in 1905 to 
45 feet. This could be done without 
greatly increasing the cost, and would 
permit the passage of lake boats carry- 
ing 2,600 tons. The advantages of this 
great increase in carrying capacity of 
barges of forty-three feet beam over 
those of twenty-seven feet, the fact 
that Canadian canals now possess 
locks forty-five feet in width by four- 
teen feet depth on miter-sills, and the 
further fact that more than three- 
fourths of the entire Barge canal route 
is through canalized natural water- 
ways of sufficient width to enable boats 
of this beam to pass each other, were 
cogent reasons why this change was 
made. 

"It would be obvious that in an un- 
dertaking of this character and mag-: 
nitude, a vast amount of preliminary 
work in the way of surveys, borings, 
soundings, studies, plans and maps 
would be required. This preliminary 
work was soon under way, but it was 
not until April, 1905, that actual con- 
struction was begun, upon the Cham- 
plain division, quietly and without any 
of the ceremonies usual to such an oc- 
casion." 

This, in brief is the history of the 
inception of the Barge canal idea, its 
consideration and public adoption and 
the commencement of work. It may 
be briefiy summarized as follows: 1892, 
State Engineer and Surveyor Martin 
Schenck's annual message and report 
advocating a Barge canal; 1899, March 
9, Gov. Roosevelt appoints canal inves- 
tigating committee; 1900, canal com- 
mittee reports and recommends canal 
enlargement; 1900, New York legisla- 
ture appropriates $200,000 for prelimi- 
nary surveys; 1901, March 15, report 



254 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



of canal survey made to legislature; 
1903, $101,000,000 Barge canal act of 
1903, providing for the Barge canal 
improvement of the Erie, Oswego and 
Champlain canals; 1905, beginning of 
Barge canal work on the Champlain 
division. The state engineers, in 
charge of this work since its com- 
mencement, have been 1903-1904, Ed- 
ward A. Bond; 1905-1907, Henry A. 
Van Alstyne; 1908, Frederick Skene; 
1909-1910, Frank M. Williams; 1911- 
1914, John A. Bensel. 

The Barge canal through New York 
state largely supplants and parallels 
the present Erie. Through the valley 
it follows largely the course of the 
Mohawk and the old trade route from 
Albany to Oswego and the great lakes. 

In the section especially covered in 
this historical narrative and within 
the limits of Montgomery county, locks 
on the canal are located as follows: 
Amsterdam, Fonda, Yosts, Canajo- 
harie, Fort Plain, St. Johnsville, Little 
Falls. Terminal docks are projected 
at Amsterdam, Fonda, Canajoharie, 
Fort Plain, St. Johnsville, Little Falls. 
All the towns along the Barge canal 
become ports of both the Atlantic 
ocean and the Great Lakes. This was 
true only in a smaller degree of the 
"canal towns" of the Erie. It is fitting 
that the Mohawk valley, the first white 
settlers of which were natives of Hol- 
land — the great canal county — should 
be occupied by a section of the world's 
greatest canal. 

The following is here reprinted from 
a pamphlet entitled "The New York 
State Barge Canal" by State Engineer 
J. A. Bensel, published in 1912. Some 
of these facts were included in the 
chapter on the Erie canal but it is 
nevertheless printed here complete as 
follows: 

To understand the canal enlarge- 
ment which New York state is now en- 
gaged in, a brief glance at the history 
of canal-building in the state is need- 
ed. The first work of interior water- 
way improvement was performed by 
two private companies, chartered in 
1792. By the end of the eighteenth 
century they had completed most of 
their works. About 1808 agitation fk)r 
state-built canals was begun. In 1817 
the work of construction was com- 
menced, the main branch being com- 



pleted in 1825. Within the next de- 
cade several lateral canals were 
buiit. This period was closely fol- 
lowed by the first enlargement of three 
of the chief canals — a work protracted 
through many years and not com- 
pleted till 1862. Then folowed some 
two decades of little activity, during 
the latter part of which several of the 
lateral branches were aljandoned. In 
1884 the period of later improvements 
was begun by a series of lock-length- 
enings, which continued for about ten 
years. Ihe .ast decade and a half has 
witnessed the undertakings of two en- 
largements, the latter of which is the 
work now in progress — the Barge 
canal. 

During the history of its canals New 
York state has opened 1,050 miles of 
navigable waterways including a hun- 
dred miles of interior lake navigation. 
In addition there are nearly 500 miles 
of lake and river navigation along the 
Canadian and Vermont borders, and 
150 miles on the Hudson river. Some 
350 miles of these canals have been 
oflicially abandoned, while about 50 
miles more have fa'len into disuse. 
The work of improvement now going 
on, known as Barge canal construc- 
tion, consists of the enlargement of 
four of the ex'sting canals, large por- 
tions of the channels, however, being, 
relocated. On one of these canals this 
is the second enlargement since its 
original building, on two this is the 
third enlargement, while on the other 
branch it is the fourth. 

The four canals being improved are: 
(1) The Erie, or main canal, which 
stretches across the state from east 
to west, joining the Hudson river and 
Lake Erie; (2) the Champlain, which 
runs northerly from the eastern ter- 
minus of the Erie and enters the head 
of Lake Champlain; (3) the Oswego, 
which starts north, midway on the line 
of the Erie, and reaches Lake Ontario; 
(4) the Cayuga and Seneca, which 
leaves the Erie a little to the west of 
the Oswego junction and extends 
south, first to Cayuga lake and then 
to Seneca lake. 

The original Erie canal was begun 
in 1817 and finished in 1825. It had a 
bottom width of 28 feet, a width 
at water-surface of 40 feet and 
4 feet depth of water. The first 
enlargement was made between 1836 
and 1862. At that time the sec- 
tion of Waterway was 70 feet at water- 
line, 52% or 56 feet at bottom, ac- 
cording to slope of sides, and 7 feet 
deep. The second enlargement was 
begun in 1896, when a depth of 9 feet 
was attempted, but this work was 
completed only at disconnected local- 
ities. 

The original Champlain canal, be- 
gun in 1817 and finished in 1823, had 
widths of 26 and 40 feet, respectively, 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



255 



at bottom and water-surface, and 4 
feet depth. In 1860 widths of 35 and 
50 feet, respectively, at bottom and 
water-line, and a depth of 5 feet were 
authorized. In 1870 increased widths 
of 44 and 58 feet, respectively, and a 
depth of 7 feet were ordered by the 
legislature. This improvement how- 
ever, was not completed. The en- 
largement of 1896-8 called for a depth 
of 7 feet, but this work also was not 
completed. 

The original Oswego canal, whicli 
was begun in 1825 and finished in 
1828, had the same dimensions as the 
original Champlain, namely, 26 and 40 
by 4 feet. The first enlargement was 
started in 1852 and completed in 1862, 
and gave a channel of the same size 
as the Erie at that time — 521/2 and 70 
by 7 feet. The second enlargement, 
that of 1896-8, was also similar to that 
of the Erie, a depth of 9 feet being at- 
tempted, but the work was never 
wholly completed. 

The original prism of the Cayuga 
and Seneca canal, which was con- 
structed between 1826 and 1828, was 
the same in size as the Erie, 28 and 
40 by 4 feet. The first enlargement, 
accomplished from 1854 to 1862, was 
also similar to that of the Erie — 521/^ 
and 70 by 7 feet. This branch did not 
share with the other three in the en- 
largemeht of 1896-8. 

The dimensions of the present en- 
largement, or Barge canal improve- 
ment, are the same for all four 
branches of the system. Briefly it 
may be stated that the law requires a 
channel at least 75 feet wide at the 
bottom and having 12 feet of water. 
In rivers and lakes the width is 200 
feet, and 72 per cent of the length of 
the whole system is in river or lake 
channel. The locks are 328 feet long 
between gates, 45 feet wide, and have 
12 feet of water over the sills. 

These few pages cannot give any 
detailed account of route or of struc- 
tures. The description might be ex- 
tended indefinitely, for there is much 
of interest to be found throughout the 
440 miles of construction and the 350 
miles of intervening lakes or adjoin- 
ing rivers. 

In general it may be stated that the 
Barge canal project is largely a river 
canalization scheme. Previous state 
canals have been chiefly independent, 
or artificial channe's, built in several 
instances on cross-country locations. 
Now, however, the route returns to the 
natural watercourses. The bed or the 
valley of the Mohawk is utilized from 
the Hudson to the old portage near 
Rome. Then Wood creek, Oneida 
lake, and Oneida, Seneca and Clyde 
rivers are used, carrying the channel 
to the western part of the state, where 
the streams run north and the align- 
ment of the old channel is retained 



for the new canal. The other branches 
of the Barge canal occupy natural 
streams throughout most of their 
lengths. 

Ihe accompanying statistical tabu- 
lation gives some of the leading facts 
concerning the Barge canal: 

(As certain plans are still under 
consideration, the following figures 
are subject to change. All canals are 
meant, unless otherwise specified.) 

Erie branch, length of canal, not in- 
cluding Hudson and Niagara river 
termini, 323.2 miles. Erie branch, 
number of locks, 35. Oneida lake, not 
included in above mileage, no improve- 
ment needed, about 19 miles. Spurs 
to Erie branch (Syracuse and Roch- 
ester harbors), 10.26 miles. Cham- 
plain branch, length of canal, 61.5 
miles. Champlain branch, number of 
locks, 11. Oswego branch, canal, 22.8 
miles. Oswego branch, number of 
locks, 7. Cayuga and Seneca branch, 
length of canal (including spurs 
at heads of lakes), approximate, 
27.3 miles. Cayuga and Seneca branch, 
number of locks, 4. Cayuga and Sen- 
eca lakes, portions needing nb im- 
provement and not included in above 
mileage, 65 miles. Width of channel, 
land line, earth section, bottom, mini- 
mum, 75 feet. Width of channel, land 
line, earth section, water-surface, 123 
to 171 feet. Width of channel, land 
line, rock section, bottom, minimum, 
94 feet. Width of channel, river line, 
bottom, generally, 200 feet. Depth of 
channel, land line and minimum river 
line, 12 feet. Locks, length between 
gates, 328 feet. Locks, available 
length, 310 feet. Locks, width of 
chamber, 45 feet. Locks, depth of 
water on sills, 12 feet. Dams, new, 28. 
Dams, old, with new crests, 6. Dams, 
o.d, used without change, 5. Bridges, 
199. Boats, capacity, utilizing full 
lock width, about 3,000 tons. Boats, 
capacity, built for two to pass in most 
restricted channel and for two, trav- 
eling tandem, to be locked at one lock- 
age, about 1,500 tons. Authorization, of 
work (Erie, Champlain and Oswego 
canals), chapter 147, laws of 1903. Au- 
thorization of work (Cayuga and Sen- 
eca canal), chapter 391, laws of 1909. 
Appropriation (Erie, Champlain and 
Oswego canals), $101,000,000. Appro- 
priation (Cayuga and Seneca canal), 
$7,000,000. Construction work begun 
(Champlain canal), April 24, 1905. 
(I^onstruction work begun (Erie canal), 
June 7, 1905. Excavation, preliminary 
(1903) estimate, not including work 
for dams, liridges, highway, railway, 
and stream changes and other small 
items (Erie, Champlain and Oswego 
canals), 132,225,800 cubic yards. Ex- 
cavation contract plans (Erie, Cham- 
plain and Oswego canals), approxi- 
mate, 105,000,000 cubic yards. Exca- 
vation, contract plans (Cayuga and 



256 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Seneca canal), approximate, 9,100,000 
cubic yards. Concrete, preliminary 
(1903) estimate (Erie, Champlain and 
Oswego cana.s), 3,243,100 cubic yards. 
Concrete, contract plans (Erie, Cham- 
plain and Oswego canals), approxi- 
mate, 2,600,000 cubic yards. Concrete, 
contract plans (Cayuga and Seneca 
canal), approximate, 150,000 cubic 
yards. 



In the summer of 1913, a party com- 
posed of representatives of the Buf- 
falo Chamber of Commerce made a 
tour of the Barge canal in company 
with State Engineer John A. Bensel 
and some of his official staff. The rec- 
ord of this very interesting trip was 
embodied in the August (1913) issue of 
the "Live Wire," a periodical put out by 
the Buffalo institution mentioned. The 
number was profusely illustrated with 
views of the canal. This publication 
is particularly interesting considering 
the remarkable fact that this great 
engineering work — the Barge canal — 
has received but trifling publicity 
from the papers of the state during 
its construction. The great lake me- 
tropolis of Western New York appre- 
ciates the tremendous advantages that 
will accrue to it from the canal and 
its men of business showed their fore- 
sight and intelligence in making the 
trip referred ta Not only Buffalo but 
the whole east and even the world at 
large must feel the trade, business and 
commercial impetus of the Barge 
canal. But New York state is bound 
to be the greatest gainer by this pub- 
lic work, which is justly entitled to 
the name of "the Grand Canal" — a title 
the people along the Erie canal gave 
to that waterway during its period of 
construction. 

State Engineer John A. Bensel, in a 
recent article on this subject, points 
out that about 71 per cent of the ter- 
ritory of the state lies within 50 miles 
of the Barge canal, that three-quar- 
ters of the population of the state live 
within two miles of the new waterway, 
and that the Barge canal goes through 
the most thickly-populated section in 
the United States. 

The "Live Wire" gives the following 
interesting comparisons between the 
Barge canal and the Panama canal: 



Barge canal — 540 miles long; total 
lockage lift, 1,050 feet; dams, 39; 
locks, 57 lift, 2 guard and 9 smaller 
locks; number of structures, between 
350 and 400; cost, $127,800,000; built 
by state with a population of 9,000,000; 
excavation, estimated total, 114,100,000 
cubic yards; concrete, estimated total, 
2,750,000 cubic yards; excavation to 
January 1, 1913, 78,428,286 cubic yards; 
work begun, April 24, 1905. 

Panama canal — 50 miles long; total 
lockage lift, 170 feet; dams, 4; locks, 
6 pairs; number of structures, 12 
locks, 1 spillway and 4 dams; cost, 
$375,000,000; built by United States 
with a population of 90,000,000; exca- 
vation, estimated total, 203,710,000 cu- 
bic yards; concrete, estimated total, 
5,000,000 cubic yards; excavation to 
January 1, 1913, 188,280,312 cubic 
yards; work begun by Americans, May 
4, 1904. 

"Buffalo Live Wire" of August, 1913, 
covered the whole subject of the Barge 
canal, describing the central line from 
Buffalo to Waterford on the Hudson, 
the Cayuga and Seneca branch, the 
great reservoirs, the Oswego branch 
and the Champlain section. After 
dealing with this great work westward 
of Rome, the Barge canal work in the 
Mohawk valley was treated — cover- 
ing the ground from Rome to the Hud- 
son. Much of this concerns the terri- 
tory covered in these chapters — the 
middle Mohawk valley. 

One of the Gargantuan tasks of the 
Barge canal work was the relocating of 
the New York Central railroad systems 
through Rome. The tracks and ap- 
purtenances were literally picked up 
and carried a distance of three miles 
and replaced, the to'tal expense in- 
volved being about $1,000,000. In the 
doing of this work the New York Cen- 
tral built three new bridges and raised 
high, new embankments for its new 
line. 

In the publication referred to the 
Delta and Hinckley reservoirs are de- 
scribed as follows: 

The total length of the Delta dam is 
1,100 feet, the length of the spillway 
being 300 feet. The maximum height 
of masonry above rock is 100 feet, and 
the approximate height of overfall 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



257 



(pool to crest) 70 feet. The masonry 
material used in this dam totaled 90,- 
000 cubic yards. The contract price 
for the entire work, including altera- 
tions was $940,840. Details of con- 
struction included canal relocation for 
nearly two miles; a flight of lift locks 
three lifts of 20.6 feet each; one lift 
lock with a lift of 12.1 feet, and a re- 
inforced concrete aqueduct, trunk, 
about 208 feet long. 

Other figures generating new ideas 
concerning the bigness of the Delta 
•dam include statements to the effect 
that the area of watershed served by 
this dam totals 137 square miles. The 
capacity of the reservoirs at crest level 
is 2,750,000,000 cubic feet. The maxi- 
mum depth at crest level is 70 feet, 
while the average depth at crest level 
is 23 feet. In the construction of this 
dam the village of Delta was wiped 
out and 295 buildings were removed; 
ten miles of highways were submerg- 
ed and seven locks and one aqueduct 
were destroyed. The maximum flood 
at the Delta dam is more than 8,000,- 
000 cubic feet per second, while the 
maximum regulated flood is 2,600 cubic 
feet per second. 

The Hinckley dam, like the Delta 
dam, is located in Oneida county, 
a few miles distant from Trenton Falls. 
It is much larger than the Delta dam 
and its construction gives to the state 
a lake nine miles in length or one- 
third again as big as the one at Delta. 
[The Delta dam is on the upper Mo- 
hawk river, about five miles north of 
Rome. The Hinckley reservoir at 
Hinckley, .on the West Canada creek, 
about twenty-five miles north of Her- 
kimer. Other reservoirs of this type 
are contemplated in the Mohawk val- 
ley — -probably on the Schoharie or East 
Canada creeks. The Hinckley reser- 
voir is located both in Oneida and 
Herkimer counties.] 

In quantity of material used in the 
construction of these two tremendous 
dams there are surprisingly large fig- 
ures, as indicated above. Take the 
masonry material alone. It totals up- 
wards of 200,000 cubic yards, which if 
loaded into ordinary dump wagons, 
would present a picture something 
like this: By the time the first team 
reached either the Delta or Hinckley 
dams, the last wagon would be just 
starting out of Charleston, South Caro- 
lina. Or, if the procession were start- 
ing from the west, the last wagon 
would be at Springfield, Illinois, when 
the first wagon was dumped. 

The following from the Buffalo "Live 
Wire," of August, 1913, gives a good 
description of the Barge canal work 
along the Mohawk river from Albany 
to Utica: 

One does not have to be an engineer. 



an architect, nor yet a builder to ap- 
preciate the many striking features of 
this portion of the canal work. It is 
fraught with romance at almost every 
point. It is tinged with history all 
along the valley of the Mohawk. The 
old and the new intermingle, and there 
is always something to study accord- 
ing to the manner in which one's mind 
inclines. 

Considering merely the work itself, 
four striking features of engineering 
accomplishments stand out promi- 
nently from the mass of detail in- 
volved in the building of this section 
of the canal. These features include 
lock and dam construction, the prin- 
ciple of movable dams, the canalizing 
of the Mohawk river, and land cuts. 

Starting at the Hudson river end of 
the section, the first piece of lock and 
dam construction encountered is the 
lift from the Hudson river level to the 
level of the Mohawk, a distance of 184 
feet, or 14 feet more than the entire 
lift in the entire Panama canal. This 
184 -foot lift is overcome by a series 
of five locks which replace 16 small 
locks, that are required to make the 
same lift on the old canal. A great 
saving in time of lockage has been 
made here, for it will be possible for 
barges to go through the new locks in 
about one hour and 35 minutes, as 
against 8 hours required to lift through 
the 16 old locks. 

At the entrance to the Mohawk river 
(or land line level) two immense dams 
have been constructed. The first of 
these is known as the Crescent dam 
and the second as the Vischer's Ferry 
dam. The Crescent dam is the more 
impressive of the two and, as its 
name implies, is constructed in the 
form of a half-circle intersected on one 
end by a large island. The dam is 
complete except for five openings, 
which still remain to be closed and 
which cannot be finished until pending 
litigation in which the state is involved 
with toll bridge companies is settled, 
or until the legislature enacts proposed 
laws which will make it possible to 
complete this work. In the meantime 
an injunction stops further proceed- 
ings. 

Some idea of the size of Crescent 
dam may be obtained when it is stated 
that the total length of the structure 
is 1,922 feet, with a radius of 700 feet. 
The height of crest above top of apron 
is 39 feet. The width on the base is 42 
feet and one-half inch. The width on 
top is 11 feet, five inches. The rise of 
the pool is about 27 feet, and the width 
of the apron 40 feet. The total amount 
of concrete used in the construction of 
the dam was 54,360 cubic yards, and 
the contract price for the work was 
$466,438.78. The dam forms a lake 
which varies in depth from 15 to 45 
feet, and has a width of from one-half 



258 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



miie to two miles, extending as far 
up stream as Vischer's Ferry dam, 
about 10 and one-half miles distant. 

A tine power house has been built at 
this dam which furnishes electric 
power for the five locks known as the 
Waterford Flight, the most distant of 
these locks being fully two miles from 
the dam. One gets some idea here of 
the immensity of the floods along the 
Mohawk river. Last spring, despite 
the fact that the flood waters were 
able to discharge through the five big 
openings left in the dam, the space 
proved insufficient and the flood 
poured over the top of the dam struc- 
ture. 

The Vischer's Ferry dam forms a 
lake varying in depth from 12 to 36 
feet, and having a varying width of 
from one-half to one and a quarter 
miles. The lake is about 11 miles long. 
This dam is complete and in operation 
and as soon as the openings left in 
the Crescent dam can be completed it 
will be possible to use the new Barge 
canal from Schenectady to the Hudson 
river. 

The contract price for the Vischer's 
Ferry dam was $518,149.65. The total 
length of the dam is nearly 2,000 feet. 
The width of the base is about 40 and 
one-half feet, and the width on top 
nearly 11 and one-half feet. The 
height of the crest above top of apron 
is 36 feet, and the total width of the 
apron is 38 feet. A total of 57,750 
cubic yards of concrete was used in 
this dam. 

The construction of the locks and 
dam at Vischer's Ferry and Crescent 
was very difficult due to the floods and 
because of the need to maintain navi- 
gation on the present Erie canal. 

From Schenectady westward there 
are eight movable dams which are of 
a type of construction that forms var- 
ious pools to Little Falls. These mov- 
able dams are raised out of the river 
in winter and leave the stream in its 
natural state, so that the dam does 
not interfere in any way with the 
floods. One of the largest of these 
dams may be seen at Amsterdam. It 
is 750 feet long and consists of three 
spans, each of them 250 feet long. 
This structure alone cost $800,000. 

Pictures are printed in the August, 
1913, (Buffalo) "Live Wire" of the 
movable dams and bridges at Amster- 
dam and Fort Plain. The Fort Plain 
bridge has two spans of 250 feet each, 
being 500 feet in length. This was the 
first dam and bridge of its type com- 
pleted in the valley. The eight mov- 
able dams and locks in the river west- 
ward from Schenectady to Little Falls 
(a distance of about 60 miles) are at 



the following locations: Rotterdam 
Junction, Cranesviile, Amsterdam, 
Tribes Hill, Yosts (Randall), Canajo- 
harie, Fort Plain, St. Johnsville. 

Some of the most impressi\e work 
along the entire canal system may be 
seen at Little Falls. The cut made 
here is a veritable monster of rock ex- 
cavation, the rock being igneous in 
character and unusually hard. This 
excavation, however, does not repre- 
sent the principal difficulty in the work 
here encountered. The problem rather 
hinges on the fact that the West 
Shore and New York Central railroads, 
the canal itself and the Mohawk river 
ail come together at this point in a 
narrow gorge, the situation being fur- 
ther complicated by the presence of 
mills and other industrial piants in the 
gorge. Two old locks now being op- 
erated here will simply be covered with 
water and wont even be pulled out, 
because when the waters are let in 
there will be ample depth over them. 
The new water level will be 20 feet 
above that of the present Erie canal 
water surface. 

The highest lift lock ever constructed 
In the world has been built at Little 
Falls. It has a total lift of 42 and 
one-half feet, which is exactly one- 
fourth of the entire lift of the entire 
Panama canal. 

The total cost of the work at Little 
Falls, including lock construction, was 
$950,000. 

Having mastered marshes and quick- 
sand and built the prism of the canal 
across gorges and along lines highly 
elevated above the surrounding coun- 
try, the problem confronting State 
Engineer John A. Bensel at Scotia, N. 
Y., seemed simple at first. It appeared 
to be a mere detail, although a large 
one, of the general task of canalizing 
the Mohawk river, and on the surface 
apparently all that was called for was 
the construction of a lock and dam. 
When test pits were sunk, it revealed 
an entirely different state of affairs, 
for it was found necessary to sink 
caissons in order that the underflow 
of water in the river might be cut off. 
This work, which is always dangerous, 
was rendered more so by the fact that 
some of the caissons had to be sunk 
82 feet below the surface of the river. 
A short time before the chamber mem- 
bers inspected the work, two men lost 
their lives in one of the caissons. 

The construction work involved in 
the building of the eight movable 
locks and dams built incidental to the 
canalizing of the Mohawk included 
foundations of varied character, some 
on rock., others in hardpan and lighter 
material, making it necessary, where 
the lighter material was encountered, 
to enclose the entire structure with 
sheet piling. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



259 




THE SIX MOHAWK VALLEY COUNTIES. 

Taken from the map issued by the State 
Engineer and Surveyor's oflSce, showing the 
present (1913) waterways of the Mohawk 
valley, the Barge, Erie and Black River 
canals. The Barge canal follows largely the 
channel of the Mohawk river eastward from 
Rome to Waterford, over 100 miles. The 
heavy line represents the Barge canal. The 
cities at or near the month of the Mohawk 
are shown. The upper part of Herkimer 
county is not represented, because its great 
length would prevent the map coming with- 
in the compass of this plate. It will be 
noted that the Mohawk river flows through 
a considerable part of Saratoga and Albany counties. The source of the Mohawk is shown 
north of and outside the Oneida county line in Lewis county. A study of the map will show 
that only comparatively small parts of the six Mohawk valley counties lie outside the Mo- 
hawk valley watershed. 



At Rocky Rift Feeder, Crescent and 
Herkimer, three guard gates have 
been built in order to confine the floods 
in the Mohawk river. These gates are 
the highest on the entire Barge canal 
system, their height being 24 feet. 
Sometimes the building of a lock in- 
volves other tasks of considerable 
magnitude. This was the case at 
Sterling Creek, where it was necessary 
to build a railroad bridge of very 
heavy type for the main line of the 
New York Central incidental to the 
work of building the lock. 

In the canalizing of the Mohawk 
river from Crescent dam to Schenec- 
tady, a very small amount of excava- 
tion was required, inasmuch as the 
two large dams forming the two lakes 
already referred to gave sufficient 
depth for -navigation. In the canaliz- 
ing work various kinds of material 
were encountered, such as fine sand, 
hardpan and rock. Where the rock 
was encountered it was very difficult 
to carry on the work, due to the nu- 
merous floods for which the Mohawk 
river is noted. In various places along 
the river, at this season of the year, 



one sees the river bed exposed, the 
bottom being rock worn smooth by 
the rush of waters, and it does not 
require a. vivid imagination to picture 
the spring floods tearing along the 
unobstructed bed of the stream on 
such a bottom and sweeping every- 
thing before it. 

The fine sand also presented serious 
problems because it was always nec- 
essary to maintain channels, an ex- 
ceedingly difficult task in soil of such 
character. However, all these diffi- 
culties have Ijeen overcome and the 
entire canalizing work is under con- 
tract and will be completed in order 
to turn navigation through the new 
Barge canal in 1915. 

The excavation at this time [1913] 
has been finished from Rotterdam to 
Amsterdam, a distance of 10 miles. 
The excavation has also been com- 
_ pleted from about half way between 
Tribes Hill and Fonda to Canajoharie, 
about 15 miles in all. From Fort Plain 
to about one and one-half miles west 
of St. Johnsville, excavation has also 
been completed. From St. Johnsville 
to Sterling Creek the excavating is 



260 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



about 90 per cent finished, and from 
Sterling Creels to Utica the canal 
prism has been completed. 

Taking into consideration that no 
excavating will be necessary above the 
two large dams, the canalizing of the 
Mohawk river is about 80 per cent fin- 
ished in length. 

From the Hudson river to the Mo- 
hawk at Waterford, the canal prism is 
constructed in a new location. This 
stretch includes the five locks known 
as the Waterford Flight, aiready re- 
ferred to as a lift which, in itself, is 
14 feet higher than the total lift of the 
entire Panama canal. This exception- 
ally high lift was necessary in order 
that the canal might pass around Co- 
hoes falls and the dam at Cohoes. In 
the vicinity of the Rocky Rift Feeder, 
another line will be necessary for the 
purpose of overcoming the slope in 
the Mohawk river and the Rocky Rift 
Feeder dam, which stores water for 
the maintenance of the present canal. 

At Little Falls the new construction 
follows the same lines as those of the 
old canal. This is a land line con- 
structed for the purpose of passing 
around the falls at Little Falls. 

From Herkimer east another land 
line is provided for, the object being 
to overcome the slope in the Mohawk 
river. This is an exceptionally diffi- 
cult piece of work in view of the fact 
that navigation must be maintained in 
the old canal. 

From Sterling Creek west, the work 
is similar as from Herkimer east, and 
for the same reason — namely, that the 
slope in the Mohawk river must be 
overcome. 

In the vicinity of Little Falls, con- 
tracts still remain to be let for the 
making of connections with the Mo- 
hawk river above and below Little 
Falls. The reasons for not placing 
this work under contract at this time 
are that this will have to be the last 
piece of construction work between 
Little Falls and the Hudson river, the 
old canal being destroyed just east of 
Little Falls lock and the water sur- 
faces at this location will be materi- 
ally changed. 

All of the main structures between 
Waterford and Utica have been com- 
pleted with the exception of the lock 
and dam at Scotia, where the work is 
progressing in a very satisfactory 
manner. 

It is expected that all the Barge 
canal work on this portion of the sys- 
tem will be advanced to such a stage 
that navigation will be turned through 
the new canal in May, 1915. 



The state engineer's report for 1913 
contains the following: "The Barge 
Canal Terminal Law provides that the 



section of the present [1913 Erie] canal 
system, from Rome to Mohawk, shall 
be maintained as a part of the Barge 
canal terminal system, but no provis- 
ion is made for funds to construct the 
necessary junction locks at Rome and 
Mohawk." The report contains a map 
showing the portions of the old Erie 
canal cut off from the present Barge 
canal. The report continues: "It is 
evident that the question as to what 
disposition shall be made of those por- 
tions of the canals so cut off should 
be one for the consideration of the 
present [1913] legislature." The re- 
port shows that there is a constitu- 
tional provision prohibiting the sale of 
canal lands but they have nevertheless 
been sold by the state, in the past, 
after they have been abandoned for 
canal purposes. The state engineer 
suggests proper legislation to dispose 
of abandoned canals and canal lands, 
which do not enter into the present 
and projected enlarged canal system 
of the state, and also an enactment to 
provide for the locks aforementioned 
at Rome and Mohawk. In case of these 
locks, being constructed a stretch of 
the old Erie canal, about 25 miles long, 
will remain in use and this will 
probably be all that will be left of the 
Mohawk river section of the old Erie 
canal. The disposition of the rest of 
the canal bed and adjacent lands in the 
Mohawk valley is a present day [1913] 
suj3ject of speculation. 

By chapter 190 of the laws of 1911, 
the state engineer was directed to 
make a survey for the ultimate pur- 
pose of improving the Black river for 
navigation between the state dam at 
Carthage and Sacketts Harbor on 
Lake Ontario. A full description of 
this route is in the 1913 report afore- 
mentioned. A summary of the cost of 
this waterway construction is $16,300,- 
000, for a canal having prism and locks 
of the same size as the Barge canal 
improvement. It is not impossible 
that the Black river and canal may be 
similarly canalized in the future and 
that picturesque and once important 
old trade route will come into its own 
once more, after years of disuse. This 
would form an important link in the 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



261 



future great waterways of the state 
and would connect with the Barge 
canal at Rome. 

The carrying capacity of the Barge 
canal may be clearly appreciated when 
the fact is considered that one 1,500 
ton barge will carry a load equal to 
that of the average 50-car freight 
train of the present day (1913). A 
3,000 ton barge, or two 1,500 ton barges 
running tandem, have a cargo ton- 
nage equal to that of a 100 freight car 
train. It is probable that the rail- 
roads have approached their extreme 
capacity as freight carriers, as regards 
the load per train under present con- 
ditions. Therefore it seems that the 
Mohawk waterway has a great future 
as a carrier of slow freight. It would 
be indeed interesting to know just 
what the situation will be a century 
hence with regard to the rival abili- 
ties of the railroads and the Barge 
canal as freight carriers. The writer 
believes the carrying capacity of the 
Barge canal may be still further in- 
creased, if conditions demand it. To 
provide a depth of water, which may 
be necessary for present and future 
waterway, needs that the greatest care 
should be taken of the water supply 
of the Mohawk watershed; reforesting 
barren wastes where possible to pro- 
vide woods to hold the water in the 
soil and also in the provision of a more 
than ample reservoir system. 

The Barge canal dredges have in 
many sections covered the Mohawk's 
banks high with spoil from the river 
bottom. It is suggested here that this 
ugly condition be done away with and 
the river banks strengthened by the 
planting of shrubbery and trees along 
the entire river course. The disfig- 
urement of a stream, as world-noted 
for its beauty as the Mohawk, is not 
to be taken lightly and the state should 
endeavor to retain as much of its at- 
tractiveness as possible. Formerly the 
shores were lined with beautiful trees 
and the replanting of them will renew 
the river's charm as much as possible 
and strengthen the banks against the 
wash of the current. 

It seems appropriate that the Mo- 
hawk should be the location of one of 



the world's greatest canals, inasmuch 
as the eastern end of its valley was 
settled by people from Holland, the 
country which may be fittingly termed 
the "mother of canals." Of the Mo- 
hawk valley section of the Barge canal, 
western Montgomery county forms al- 
most the center. 

In 1912 and 1913 inquiries, as to the 
safety of the Hinckley Barge canal 
reservoir, were made of the office of 
the State Engineer and Surveyor. The 
villages of Poland, Newport, Middle- 
ville and Herkimer all lie in the West 
Canada creek valley, in which is lo- 
cated the Hinckley reservoir. These 
four villages all joined in a request for 
information as to the safety of the 
Hinckley dam in 1913. A special re- 
port was made by State Engineer Ben- 
sel on the subject, which showed un- 
usual precautions for the safety of this 
structure had been taken, which should 
guard it against any damage from 
even the greatest floods. The subject 
suggests that an inspection of all stor- 
age reservoirs on the Mohawk and its 
tributaries should be made annually 
by the proper parties. 

Some opposition to the Barge canal 
has been offered Iiy people who hoped 
to see a ship canal supplant the Erie. 
It seems to be the consensus of expert 
opinion that such a waterway is im- 
practicable. However conditions 
change and it is not improbable that 
the Barge canal will prove to be a step 
toward a greater waterway, perhaps a 
century hence, which will connect the 
Hudson with the Great Lakes by way 
of the Mohawk river, Oneida lake and 
river and the Oswego river to Lake 
Ontario and thence to Lake Erie and 
westward by means of a canal around 
Niagara Falls. The carrying capacity 
of l)oth railroads and Barge canal will 
probal)ly soon lie overtaxed by the east 
and west freight traffic. 

At last the people of New York 
state are taking an advanced and en- 
lightened position in regard to the 
great transportation advantages of 
their natural waterways and their 
present development brings out 
strongly the keen insight and knowl- 
edge of the possibilities of inland 



262 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



waterway traffic displayed by Wash- 
ington" in the extract from his letter 
which heads this chapter and which 
was written anent his visit to the Mo- 
hawk river section of the present 
Barge canal. 



Martin Schenck, who, as state en- 
gineer in his report of 1892, first pub- 
licly proposed the Barge canal, was 
born on the Schenck farm at Schenck's 
Hollow, in the town of Palatine, near 
the Nose, where the Montgomery 
county home is now located. The first 
Schenck (Peter) came to Long Island, 
in New York state, in 1650, from Hol- 
land. A descendant, Ralph Schenck, 
moved to Johnstown during the Revo- 
lution. He was an active patriot and 
soldier, serving at Monmouth and 
Cowpens, among other fields, and held 
the rank of lieutenant. His son Wil- 
liam bought the Jelles Fonda place 
from John DeWandelaer at the mouth 
of the Kanagara or Knauderack, which 
later became known as Schenck's and 
Schenck's Hollow. Major Jelles 
Fonda had here a store and a mill and 
a fine brick house (said to have been 
one of the best in the valley), all of 
which property was burned by John- 
son in his first raid of 1780. William 
Schenck here had a grist mill, saw 
mill, fulling mill, plaster mill, cider 
mill, blacksmith shop and cooper shop 
in the early nineteenth century, making 
it a place of considerable importance. 
Here, about or before 1830, he built a 
fine brick house, which is now the 
main building of the Montgomery 
county home, the farm having been ac- 
quired by the county about 1900. The 
Schenck place is one of the most noted 
of the historic farms and dwellings 
along the Mohawk, being a large, well 
kept place, situated amidst beautiful 
surroundings. It, however, has the 
unenviable reputation of being located 
on the banks of a stream, which is one 
of the few haunts of rattlesnakes in 
the valley. 

Benjamin Schenck, son of William 
Schenck, was the father of Martin 
Schenck, who was born at the Schenck 
place in 1848. He studied civil engi- 
neering at Union college and became 



engaged in railroad and general engi- 
neering and contracting work. In 1874 
he was elected to the assembly from 
Montgomery county. He was later an 
engineer employed in West Shore rail- 
road construction and in 1883 became 
connected with the canal department. 
In 1892 Martin Schenck was elected 
state engineer and surveyor and 
served as such until 1894. 



CHAPTER V. 
1911, August 14-25, Atwood's 1,266- 
Mile Flight From St. Louis to New 
York — Flies 95 Miles From Syracuse 
to Nelliston, August 22 and Stays 
Overnight at Fort Plain — Flies 66 
Miles From Nelliston to Castleton, 
August 23, With a Stop in Glen for 
Repairs — "Following the Mohawk." 

This chapter, relative to the first 
aeroplane flight through the Mohawk 
valley, is the seventh and last chapter 
treating of valley transportation. The 
others have covered early Mohawk 
river traffic, bridges, turnpike travel, 
Erie canal, railroads and Barge canal. 

In 1911 Harry N. Atwood made a 
flight by aeroplane from St. Louis to 
New York, a distance by air of 1,266 
miles. It was an epoch-making 
event in the history of aviation 
and . formed a fitting chapter in 
the long record of travel and trans- 
portation along the Mohawk, for At- 
wood followed our river in his air 
journey through this part of the state. 
Birds of passage follow the same route 
from lakes to coast and in the summer 
of 1912 the writer saw three gulls fly- 
ing westward over the river from the 
porch of the Haymarket club front- 
ing the river and north of Fort Plain. 
This is a sight which has been noted 
frequently and it was fitting that the 
first bird man who flew over Central 
New York should follow the same air 
path. The St. Louis-New York flight 
up to date (1913) remains one of the 
most noteworthy accomplishments of 
aviation the world over. Atwood had 
flown from Boston to Washington, 
June 30-July, 1911, and this was,, up to 
that time, the longest cross country 
air journey made in the western hem- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



263 



isphere, eclipsing Curtiss's great flight 
down the Hudson from Albany to New 
York, the previous year. 1910. 

Harry N. Atwood left St. Louis 
August 14, 1911, and reached Chicago, 
283 miles away in 6 hours and 32 min- 
utes, the same day. He made Buffalo, 
August 19, and his flight through New 
York state with the distances and the 
places he reached each day are as fol- 
lows: August 20, Buffalo to Lyons, 104 
miles; August 21, Lyons to Belle Isle 
(near Syracuse), 40 miles; August 22, 
Belle Isle to Fort Plain, 95 miles; Au- 
gust 23, Fort Plain to Castleton (on 
the Hudson), 66 miles; August 24, 
Castleton to Nyack, 109 miles; August 
25, Nyack to New York, 28 miles. Dur- 
ation of flight, 12 days. Net flying 
time 28 hrs., 53 min. Average speed 
43.9 miles per hr. Air distance covered, 
1,266 miles. 

The following is from the Fort Plain 
Standard of August 24, 1911: 

With the ease, grace and confidence 
of a huge eagle, from out of the west- 
ern sky Tuesday evening came young 
Atwood, the St. Louis-to-New York 
aviator, and it was the good fortune 
of Nelliston and Fort Plain to get for 
nothing that for which many cities 
paid big money — the presence of the 
foremost bird-man of them all so far 
as long flights in a short time is con- 
cerned. The sight afforded as At- 
wood came within the vision of the 
thousands watching intently for him — 
at first little more than a speck sur- 
rounded by a whirl — was one that will 
never be forgotten by those who wit- 
nessed it. Steadily drawing nearer 
and nearer, for a time coming as 
straight as the proverbial gun-barrel, 
and then suddenly shifting to his right, 
but only for a brief period, the bold 
but cautious aviator seemed to be 
searching for a safe place to land. 
Suddenly resuming his course, some- 
what south of east, he dashed over 
the mill portion of Fort Plain and over 
the Mohawk river, spied the vacant 
lot in the rear of the E. I. Nellis home- 
stead, Nelliston. and aUghted like a 
graceful, high-flying bird desirous of 
spending the night in seclusion and in 
comfort. 

All this happened from shortly be- 
fore 7 o'clock Tuesday evening, Aug. 
22, 1911 (screw the date to your mind), 
when Atwood was first discovered 
by the thousands watching and wait- 
ing for him, until exactly 7 o'clock, 
when he alighted safe and sound at 
the point mentioned. And it was cer- 



tainly a novel, thrilling, never-to-be- 
forgotten sight to behold man and ma- 
chine come from out of the sky — a 
phenomenon — and a few moments 
later, through landing, shift himself 
into a mere human being exciting won- 
derment by the aid of mere man's 
cleverness. 

With a wild rush many of the 
thousands who had long waited for 
Atwood, expecting only to see him 
pass over Fort Plain, hastened to the 
scene of the landing, and the shouts 
of people, mingled with the noise of 
automobi'es. motorcycles, clatter of 
hoofs and rumbling of wagons, quickly 
caused that which was apparently 
chaos and pandemonium. 

The surging, seething mob soon sur- 
rounded man and machine, and he, 
coolest of the wild assemblage, made 
every effort (and with success) to 
save his biplane from damage. At- 
wood begged, expostulated and warned 
and was quickly aided in his efforts 
by men who realized the all but help- 
less predicament in which the aviator, 
far from police protection, found him- 
self through the intense enthusiasm 
of the admiring but rash, thoughtless 
thousands. But all's well that ends 
well, for despite the eagerness of the 
crowd, no damage was caused to the 
biplane. 

After assuring himself that the ma- 
chine was safe and in good hands, 
Atwood was brought to Hotel Greeley 
by autoist Harold Gray, and from the 
time the car left the Nellis aviation 
field until the wash-room of said ho- 
tel was reached, Atwood was cheered, 
shouted at and greeted with yells of 
admiration and encouragement from 
lusty thousands. And then (prosaic 
mortal that he is) he ate a hearty 
supper heartily! And all the time peo- 
ple, and then more people, were ar- 
riving in front of Hotel Greeley, and 
the big crowd included the Old band, 
and the J. J. Witter Fife, Drum and 
Bugle corps. Noise'? That isn't quite 
the word, but it will suflice. 

When the cause of it all felt suf- 
ficiently rested and refreshed, he was 
escorted from the Greeley grill room 
to Canal street by Postmaster Scott 
and was cheered, cheered and then 
cheered, and then introduced to the 
crowd, after which came a modest, 
well-put, brief expression of thanks 
for the cordial greeting. And then the 
Old band turned 'oose "Come Josephine 
iri My Flying Machine." Rather pat, 
that Old band, eh? 

When he could break away without 
causing displeasure, Atwood, with 
others, returned to the Nellis lot. lo- 
cated the biplane carefully for the 
night, and then came back to Hotel 
Greeley, where the aviator retired 
about midnight, after leaving a call for 
5.30. 



264 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Atwood came from Little Falls to 
Fort Plain, 16 miles, in 18 minutes. 

The daring aviator was in constant 
demand for interviews, via the tele- 
phone, and to the Albany Knicker- 
bocker Press he said: 

"I arrived in Fort Plain at 7 o'clock 
this evening from Amboy, which place 
I left at 5 o'clock. For the last five 
miles of the flight I was watching for 
a decent landing place, and Fort Plain 
looked good to me. I have been used 
better by the people here than at any 
place on the flight." 

When Atwood landed the first person 
his eyes encountered was a boy, to 
whom he put this: 

"Where the devil am I?" 

"In the Nellis pasture," came the 
startling response from the startled 
lad. 

Just the least bit indefinite, that, to 
a stranger dropping out of the clouds 
after flying nearly 100 miles. 

Cheerfully responding to the first 
knock on his door yesterday morning, 
Atwood, after breakfasting, was again 
taken to the Nellis lot by Harold Gray, 
and after carefully ascertaining that 
all was well, made a get-away at 7.25, 
the journey being preceded by two 
circles, made high in the air, that add- 
ed to his reputation for cleverness and 
generosity and astounded the hundreds 
of awed spectators, who all but 
breathlessly stared after the daring 
aviator till staring was useless — he 
was out of sight, but not out of mind! 

Atwood arrived at his Wednesday 
morning destination, Castleton. 70 
miles from here, at 9.15. Slow going, 
which is explained by the following 
from last night's Amsterdam Recorder: 
"Members of Minch's band, bound for 
the Sunday school picnic at Charles- 
ton Four Corners, had the p'easure of 
meeting Atwood while on their way 
south. The aviator was obliged to 
land in consequence of a leaking gas- 
oline tank and alighted easily, on the 
Jay Blood farm, in the town of Glen, 
about a mile northeast of Glen village. 
He used a shoestring in making re- 
pairs. The stop, which necessitated a 
de'ay of about 20 minutes, was wit- 
nessed V)y the bandmen, who, it may 
be remarked, also stopped that length 
of time. Bandmaster Conrad Minch 
and his associates hastened to the field 
to greet the daring birdman and lend 
such assistance as they could, and 
many of the residents of the neighbor- 
hood also gathered about the ma- 
chine, which came down in a small 
gulley. When repairs had been made 
the Amsterdam musicians all of whom 
had shaken hands with Atwood, as- 
sisted with wil'ing hands to move the 
biplane to a more elevated position, 
from which the aviator speedily rose 
and after circling about in gratitude 



for the assistance given him, resumed 
his flight eastward. Atwood said that 
there had been a leakage of gasoline 
from the time he passed Palatine 
Bridge and declared that his mechanic 
should not have permitted his com- 
mencing the flight with the machine 
in the condition it was. Atwood told 
those with whom he conversed that 
because of the haze he had floated 
away from the Mohawk valley and 
asked how far he was from the river. 
When told that it was about two 
miles away Atwood responded, "Well, 
that isn't far. I will soon get back 
to it.' " 

"The Making of an Aviator" was the 
title of a very interesting paper con- 
tributed to the Saturday Evening 
Post (Dec. 7, 1912) by Harry N. At- 
wood. In it, under the subheading of 
"Following the Mohawk" he described 
his journey, in the air largely over the 
valley, from Syracuse to Fort Plain, 
although he does not mention the place 
or Nelliston by name. This sketch 
forms one of the most interesting 
documents of flying yet published and 
the Mohawk valley part is here re- 
printed: 

"The great future of the aeroplane — 
its coming necessity to mankind and 
its marvelous possibilities — was im- 
pressed upon my mind most strongly 
one night when I was making a leg of 
my flight between the cities of St. 
Louis and New York. Owing to the 
inclemency of the weather I had been 
obliged to remain upon the ground 
until late in the afternoon. I was lo- 
cated in a little valley in the hills just 
outside the suburbs of Syracuse. In 
accordance with my customary sched- 
ule I desired to cover at least a hun- 
dred miles more toward my destination. 
At sunset the disturbing wind elements 
suddenly died out and I immediately 
prepared for flight. Ten minutes later 
and the smoke of the city of Syracuse 
was fast becoming a speck in the 
western horizon. 

"I shall never forget that beautiful 
evening. The Mohawk river lay be- 
neath me; but, as it wound in and 
out between the hills, I would leave 
its course for a few minutes at a time 
and pick it up again at another point. 
Twilight set in and the valley and the 
river became very indistinct. The 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PliAIX 



2(55 



tops of the hills and the mountains, 
however, stood out clearly in the wan- 
ing light. 

"One by one I could make out the 
lights of the farmhouses, thousands of 
feet beneath me in the valley; and 
they seemed to increase in number in 
exactly the same manner as the stars 
above me increased in number. 

"Finally the Mohawk became 
shrouded in darkness, and it was only 
when passing over a lighted village or 
town that I was able to distinguish 
anything. I felt as if I were in a 
dream. 

"I gazed into the dark depths and 
wondered what sensation the mortals 
down there were experiencing as I 
roared over their communities! I did 
not experience any inability to keep 
my equilibrium, but I did experience a 
peculiar sense of giddiness, which was 
probab'y due to the unusual surround- 
ings. Mile after mile I flew, high over 



the valley, marveling at the wonders 
of the situation and forgetting that 
sooner or later I should be obliged to 
make a landing. This realization 
came to me very forcibly when I dis- 
covered that it was almost impossible 
to make out even the tops of the 
mountains. Then I selected the first 
hill I came to and began circling 
round it in long spirals, gradually 
coming to it closer and closer. Finally 
discovering an opening among the 
trees, I dropped into it safely. [At Nel- 
liston, opposite Fort Plain.] 

"It seems to me that this experi- 
ence alone demonstrates very clearly 
the possibilities and the adaptability 
of aviation to almost every type of 
mankind. The only feature about it 
that can be criticised or questioned is 
the fact that it is accompanied by con- 
siderable danger; but it will not take 
long for human ingenuity to eliminate 
this one and only obstacle." 



CHAPTER VI. 

Geological Review of the Middle Mo- 
hawk Valley by Abram Devendorf — 
Lake Albany Covering the Old Mo- 
hawk Country of Canajoharie, From 
Little Falls to the Noses — The Gla- 
cial Period — Surface Indications. 
In a foregoing chapter some mention 
has been made of the topography and 
geological history of the Mohawk 
river and its valley. The following- 
chapter on the geology of the middle 
valley deals with the subject in detail 
and much of the interesting surface in- 
dications of past glacial and water ac- 
tion. It covers especially the old Mo- 
ha\vk region of Canajoharie (later the 
Palatine and Canajoharie districts), 
the lower levels of which were at one 
time covered by the waters of "Lake 
Albany." This chapter has been kindly 
written for this w-ork by Abram Dev- 
endorf of the town of Minden, for- 
merly postmaster of Fort Plain and an 
authority on the geology of the valley. 
The reader is referred to any good 
text book for the geological terms used 
and a proper understanding of the dif- 
ferent rock strata. 



The Mohawk river flows through 
one of the most ancient valleys on this 
planet. It was once a mighty stream 
which conveyed the waters of the 
Great Lakes into the ocean at some 
point near Schenectady. The ocean 
then extended up the Hudson valley 
north and probably included Lakes 
George and Champlain. Between 
Schenectady and Albany is a delta 
deposited there by the waters of the 
Mohawk. The finer material was car- 
ried along and formed the clay beds 
at Albany and farther south. During 
pre-glacial times this river was a 
chain of lakes with outlets at Jthe 
Noses near Sprakers and at Little 
Falls. 

This valley divides the eastern part 
of A^ew York state into two dissimilar 
sections, viz: The Adirondacks on 
the north and a dissected plateau on 
the south. During the pre-Cambrian 
period the rock formations of the Adi- 
rondacks were deposited by the sea on 
a /loor of o'.der rocks the nature of 
which have never been determined 
unless we infer that they were similar 
to the dikes and intrusions found at 



266 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



Little Falls and at several places in 
the Adirondack region. 

The rocks in the Adirondacks are 
the oldest sedimentary rocks on the 
earth's surface, indicating that this 
region, including the Mohawk valley, 
was below sea level at different times 
and it is mere conjecture from what 
source this material came to cover the 
old floor which may have been in a 
semi-fluid state except that the entire 
state and the country beyond was cov- 
ered by the waters of a shoreless ocean 
with currents that carried the sedi- 
ment possibly from many directions 
and deposited this material on the 
original foundation. 

A similar condition existed in the 
Mohawk valley except volcanic activity 
was not as severe as it was farther 
north, and if the structure of the orig- 
inal floor could be ascertained it would 
lie found that it is not as crystalline 
as it is in the northern part of the 
state. The length of tiine required for 
such a deposition has never been de- 
ciphered; it is evident however that 
it involved a prodigious length of time. 
The Mohawk valley was simply the 
border land of the Adirondacks and too 
remote from the heart of that region, 
where igneous action was greatest, to 
receive but a slight effect from this 
\'olcanic activity. 

At some later date there was a gen- 
eral upheaval not only of the Adiron- 
dacks but also of the Mohawk valley 
until these two sections became a dry 
land area and remained so for many 
ages. During this time the broken 
surface from the upheaval, was worn 
down by the erosive agencies and the 
sediment carried by the Mohawk river 
down to the sea. Igneous activity in 
the northern part of the state con- 
tinued during this period forming As- 
sures and great dike openings which 
were filled with lava from the reser- 
voirs of molten matter underneath. 
The elevation of the Adirondacks must 
have been several hundred feet, if not 
two to three thousand feet, above sea 
level. The long protracted erosion 
wore down the mountains and hills to 
mere stumps leaving a low altitude. 
While the last finishing touches of ero- 



sion were given to the Adirondack 
region the sea began to encroach on 
this area from the north and continued 
until the Mohawk valley was again 
under water. The first deposit from 
this subsidence formed the Potsdam 
sandstone in the northern part of the 
state and is entirely lacking in this 
county except one or two fringes along 
the Fulton county I'order which bear a 
resemblance to that found in St. Law- 
rence county. The inference is that 
the ocean had not yet enveloped this 
entire area but was gradually en- 
croaching over a'l the Adirondacks 
and the Mohawk valley. The Potsdam 
sandstone, a valuable building stone 
quarried largely in St. Lawrence 
county, is composed of coarse sand 
and gravel deposited in shallow water 
in which strong currents operated to 
remove the mud. During the Potsdam 
period Montgomer.v county was above 
sea level, but subsidence continued 
until this county was again under 
water. For some reason now the char- 
acter of the deposit changes. Instead 
of a pure sandstone like the Potsdam, 
the formation is a dolomite or calcif- 
erous sandrock or, as it is now called, 
Beekmantown limestone. This rock is 
a peculiar formation not like ordi- 
nary open sea deposits but more like 
an inland sea deposit, the nature of 
which is not exactly understood. It 
is the first sedimentary deposit on the 
old land surface in the Mohawk valley. 
This formation contains but few fos- 
sils. Animal and plant life existed only 
in meager quantities. The lower lay- 
ers are nearly barren of fossils but the 
upper layers are fucoidal and some- 
what changed in structure and char- 
acter indicating a transition to an- 
other period and a formation entirely 
different in composition — a lime stone, 
highly fossiliferous and marine in na- 
ture and known as the Trenton. Of 
this series the Lowville or birdseye is 
a very valuable quarry stone, thick 
bedded and abounding in calcite filled 
tubes, which adds to the looks of the 
stone when dressed. 

The Trenton beds were deposits 
from clear water and from an open sea 
which probably existed south and east 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



267 



of this continent. Some of the beds 
of this series were deposited in shal- 
low water and abound in shells. 

Toward the close of the Trenton fine 
muds began to be washed into the pre- 
viously clear sea producing a series of 
alternating limestone and shale bands 
and later continuously giving rise to 
the fine muds of the Utica formation. 
This was followed by a change of life. 
New species appear and the old be- 
come extinct. This change however, 
was gradual and required an immense 
length of time. What currents brought 
this muddy water into the clear sea 
which existed during Trenton times is 
an unsettled question, but it probably 
came from the ocean that covered this 
continent to the westward and south- 
ward. 

Following this period of Utica slate 
formation came a movement of dis- 
turbance and uplift of the region of 
the Adirondacks and the Mohawk val- 
ley as far west as Rome, but the re- 
mainder of the state remained sub- 
• merged and continued so until the last 
layer of the Helderberg was deposited. 
Then the sea receded westward and the 
Helderberg mountains arose from the 
sea. It is probable that during this 
upheaval the faults at Little Falls, 
East Creek, St. Johnsville, the Noses 
and at Hoffmans were formed. The 
uplift at Little Falls at that time was 
several hundred feet and at the Noses 
not so much. The escarpment at 
either of these places was sufficient to 
dam the waters of the Mohawk and 
form the Utica and Albany lakes. 
This time probably is coincident with 
the upheaval of the Taconic range of 
Massachusetts and a period of great 
earthquakes which shook the valley 
and distorted the rocks in every di- 
rection. 

The Chazy limestone which overlies 
the Calciferous or Beekmantown in 
the Champlain valley is entirely ab- 
sent in the Mohawk valley. Its absence 
may be accounted for from the fact 
that there was an uplift of this region 
at the close of the Calciferous period 
and the beginning of the Trenton. 
This uplift was only slight but suffic- 
ient to stop deposition in the valley. 



Then su))sidence began and continued 
without interruption during the Tren- 
ton and Utica periods. 

The only exposure of the pre-Cam- 
brian rocks is at the Noses. It is a 
x'ariety of syenite called quartzose 
gneiss and is the bed rock on which 
was laid the Calciferous sandrock in- 
stead of the Potsdam sandstone which 
underlies the Calciferous in other lo- 
calities. On the south side of the river 
a short distance below Sprakers is a 
fine exposure of the Calciferous con- 
taining layers of dolomite, calcite and 
drusy cavities. The upper strata have 
plenty of fucoidal cavities filled with 
calcite similar to the lower beds of 
the Trenton. 

From the time of the last deposit of 
the Utica shales to the glacial period 
involves an immense length of time 
and during this time great changes 
were taking place. The Helderberg 
series were deposited, also the Onon- 
daga, Hamilton, Portage and Chemung 
groups — strata that measure several 
thousand feet in thickness and which 
required millions of years to deposit. 

When the Helderbergs emerged from 
the sea and the waters of the ocean 
were thrown back the agitation in the 
valley must have been immense. At 
this period the Mohawk valley, the 
northern and eastern part of the state 
must have been elevated several hun- 
dred feet higher than it is now as the 
Hudson river channel extended at least 
50 miles farther south and the whole 
state must have been a barren waste, 
except what was covered by water. 
But previous to this period, or during 
the time the Utica slate was deposited, 
some geologists claim that a continent 
existed, occupying the area of the north 
Atlantic, from which the muds came 
to make the deposit of the Utica and 
Hudson river shales. No land ani- 
mals existed until centuries after and 
the same is true of plant life except 
the growth of lichens and mosses 
which began to cover the barren rocks. 
The glacial period dates back many 
thousand years. Some geologists say 
at least 50,000 years and others think 
a longer period elapsed. How long 
this condition persisted, how many 



268 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



times the ice came and went over the 
immediate region we do not know. 
There is no way to get at the time 
even approximately. The gorge of the 
Niagara river and the gorge on the 
Mississippi river at St. Antony's Flails 
furnish data for an approximate esti- 
mate, but the length of time that the 
northern part of this continent was 
covered by ice and snow is very uncer- 
tain, except that it must have been 
centuries. This ice sheet, that moved 
in a southeast direction, must ha\e 
been a mile in thickness and in its 
movement, which was very slow, it 
filled valleys, scooped out lakes and 
tore down mountains. The first glacial 
sheet that covered this state as far 
south as the southern tier of counties 
and which plowed out the Finger lakes 
of the western part of the state and 
Otsego lake and changed the water 
courses of many streams, came from 
the I^abrador district. It is probable 
as this ice sheet moved over the Adi- 
rondacks into the valley that it di- 
vided at Little Falls. Part of it mov- 
ing west and the remainder came down 
the Mohawk valley to the Hudson 
river. From the moraines strung 
along Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in 
Ohio and the terraces formed by Lake 
Warren, which covered the northwest, 
and Lake Iroquois, which extended 
some 30 or 40 miles farther east and 
south than the present Lake Ontario, 
would indicate that there were three 
glacial periods or at least three reces- 
sions. The Wisconsin glacier, which 
covered the Great Lakes, extended far 
over the western part of the state. 
Previous to this time a river drained 
the area now occupied by Lake Erie 
and extended along the south shore of 
the present Lake Ontario, either after 
or before the tilting of this continent 
which sent the waters of these lakes 
into the Mississippi river by way of 
Chicago. Geologists say that in about 
3,000 years the same condition will 
again exist and the waters of all the 
lakes above the Falls iijstead of flow- 
ing down the St. Lawrence valley will 
find their way into the Mississippi val- 
ley, and the great cataract at Niagara 
will no longer exist. 



Before the g'acial period the rock 
barrier at Little Falls was the divide 
between Hudson and St. Lawrence 
waters and later this barrier formed 
a lake which extended probably as far 
west as Rome. The West Canada 
creek and other side streams filled this 
depression with detritus carried down 
from the north and south, forming a 
delta which blocked the river for miles 
above the barrier at Little Fal's. 
About four miles south of Little Falls 
is a low pass that leads froin the 
valley to Newville and down the Now- 
adaga creek to Indian Castle which 
may have been the ancient course of 
the river previous to the glacial per- 
iod. The upheaval of the rock bar- 
rier occurred after the Utica slate de- 
posit, due to a fault that extends far 
north but disappears a short distance 
south of the river in the town of Dan- 
ube. This rock barrier must have been 
600 feet high, at least high enough to 
hold back the waters of the Mohawk, 
which found an outlet by way of New- 
ville. During glacial times the ice 
wore away the softer rocks down to 
the crystallines and the river assumed 
its ancient channel. 

The Labrador sheet of ice c'osed the 
St. Lawrence river and held back the 
waters of the Great Lakes and ex- 
tended nearly to the southern boun- 
daries of this state and over all of 
New England, and after the ice, in its 
last northerly retreat, uncovered the 
Mohawk valley but still lay across the 
St. LaAvrence, the drainage of the 
Great Lakes passed to the sea by way 
of the Mohawk, the eastern end of the 
lake in the Ontario basin being at 
Rome. The present river is but an in- 
significant stream compared to the 
mighty river that carried the waters 
of the Great Lakes to the sea through 
the Mohawk valley. The depth of 
water in this stream estimated from 
the terraces lining the valley was from 
25 to 30 feet above the present flood 
plain. 

It is probable that during this epoch 
the cold was not continuous. That 
there were intervals of warmth that 
caused the glacier to recede and after- 
ward advance again is evident from 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



269 



the different lines of deposit left by 
the recession. The length of time 
that the glacial sheet covered New 
York state, or existed within the area 
of the United States, is entirely prob- 
lematical. At least several thousand 
years elapsed before the climate be- 
came normal as at the present time. 
What caused this climatic change is 
an open question and the different 
theories advanced by geologists and 
astronomers hardly account for such 
a phenomenal climate. Some astrono- 
mers claim that in the course of time 
the same condition will recur. 

The polar axis describes a circle in 
the heavens in about 25,800 years and 
at the present time the North Pole 
points within one and one-half degrees 
to the Polar stai*. In about 12,500 
years the polar axis will point to the 
constellation Lyra, and 2,000 years 
later to the star Alpha in the handle 
of the dipper (Ursa Major). Some 
claim that this change in the earth's 
axis may produce a change of climate 
owing to the procession of the equi- 
noxes which is caused by the change 
in the polar axis of the earth. 

The elevation theory advanced by 
some geologists seems more plausible 
as there are plenty of evidences that 
this continent was several thousand 
feet higher than it is at present. The 
Cretaceous sea which covered the west- 
ern and southwestern states and ex- 
tended eastward to the Appalachian 
range was the last important or exten- 
sive body of water that covered this 
continent and, at the close of this per- 
iod, this continent became elevated to 
such a height as to produce a frigid 
climate. The Mississippi valley was 
simply a depression through which the 
waters of what are now the Great 
Lakes flowed to the southern sea. 
During this period of elevation the 
Mississippi river wore out a channel 
1,000 to 1,500 feet deep, which since 
has been filled by silt and debris 
brought down by the river. This an- 
cient channel, which was at one time a 
canon, extends some 40 miles into the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

Another theory is that the Gulf 
stream, which originates in the equa- 



torial regions, may have taken a dif- 
ferent course. It is known that The 
Japan current in the Pacific, as it 
swings southward from the Aleutian 
Islands along the coast of America, 
modifies the climate of Washington 
and Oregon, and the warm waters of 
the Gulf Stream temper the climate of 
England, which fs north of the 51st 
parallel and nearly on a line with Lab- 
rador. If, by some seismic disturb- 
ance, the Isthmus of Darien should 
sink below sea level and the Gulf 
Stream as it swings around through 
the Carribean sea and enters the Gulf 
of Mexico should instead pass into the 
Pacific ocean, England would be as 
cold as Labrador and New York state 
nearly as cold, and it is probable that 
the inland states would be as arid as 
the plains east of the Rocky moun- 
tains. It is the moisture of the Gulf 
Stream which is carried far inland by 
the south and east winds which gives 
the middle states a moist climate. 

The ancient terraces are still to be 
seen along the valley. Two are quite 
distinct and the traces of the third are 
found at some places. In Fort Plain, 
the Institute hill and Prospect hill un- 
doubtedly were parts of the upper ter- 
race, and West street is about on the 
same horizon of the second terrace. 
At Mindenville the third or lower ter- 
race is plainly visible. These terraces 
show the different levels of the Albany 
lake which extended from the escarp- 
ment at the Noses to the uplift at Lit- 
tle Falls, and the different levels of 
the Mohawk river during the time that 
it was carrying the waters of Lake 
Iroquois to the sea. 

The glacier, as it came from the Ad- 
irondacks and swung around into the 
valley at Little Falls, carried with it 
the loose material torn from the arch- 
ean rocks of the north and the softer 
shales and limestones lying nearer the 
valley and deposited this glacial drift 
along the river and as far south, in 
this vicinity, as the southern part of 
this county. The softer rocks as the 
Utica slate, Trenton and Calciferous 
were ground up by the ice sheet and 
were left as a mantle covering the 
land, making the different soils which 



270 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



were afterwards modified by other 
agencies. The glacier that moved 
down the valley and across it left all 
along drumlins and lateral moraines. 
Some of these moraines were altered 
by water. The ttner material was car- 
ried along and deposited as clay and 
sand beds. Going south of this county 
we find a different class of boulders 
which indicates another stream of ice 
different from that which went down 
the valley and left a different soil in 
the southern part of Canajoharie, Root 
and Glen. 

Fort Hill, one mile west of St. Johns- 
ville, is a deposit of altered drift 
carried there by the East Canada 
creek and the river. There are layers 
in this deposit where the gravel and 
sand are cemented together in a solid 
mass from the acids and carbonates 
carried down from the crystalline 
rocks and limestones. The drumlin, 
or possibly a moraine, along the state 
road between the two villages is of the 
same origin. A great deal of this ma- 
terial brought down by the East Can- 
ada creek was deposited on the south 
side of the river. The finer sediment 
was carried along farther east and 
formed the sand and clay beds of Min- 
denville and St. Johnsville. 

The streams that empty into the Mo- 
hawk river on the south side of the 
river are not as glaciated as those 
coming from the north. Garoga creek 
is lined by lateral moraines. This 
stream during glacial time was several 
times larger than it is as present and 
during the long period that has elapsed 
since it was filled with ice it has worn 
a very deep channel and carried this 
erosive material down to the river to 
help build up islands and fill the river 
channel. There is no doubt that the 
clay and silt beds along the West 
Shore railroad and the clay beds of 
Institute hill (Fort Plain) were depos- 
ited there by the Garoga creek. 

Prospect hill (Fort Plain) is a very 
interesting formation. It has a bold 
front on two sides and is a remnant of 
a much larger deposit which filled or at 
least covered the plain on which Fort 
Plain is located. Its outward appear- 
ance looks like a delta, a fluvile de- 



posit by the Otsquago creek and the 
Mohawk river. But it is not, neither 
is it a drift deposit from the glacier 
that came down the valley from the 
north, as its composition is alluvium 
with some sand and small stones from 
nearby formations mixed with the 
crystallines from the north. It is 
probable that during this time, the 
glacier coming down the Otsquago val- 
ley made this deposit while the valley 
was covered with ice. This drumlin or 
terminal moraine extends but a short 
distance down the vallej'. Outside 
Fort Plain, on the Starkville road 
and on the Green farm, is a ter- 
minal moraine lodged there by the 
ice but which has been altered some- 
what from the different courses that 
the stream has taken during the cen- 
turies since the glacial period. The 
Otsquago valley was once filled by ice 
and water as far south as Starkville. 
The terraces along the line indicate 
the height of water at that time and 
are quite distinct all along. In and 
along the creek and in the stone walls 
along the Starkville road can be found 
boulders of different sizes, from the 
crystalline rocks of the Adirondacks, 
carried across the river and deposited 
there as the ice melted. We find Gab- 
bros, Diorites, Syenites and Anortisites 
torn loose from the quarries in the 
north and carried across the river 
probably over the ice. In the creek, 
near the Van Slyke saw mill, is a large 
syenite boulder worn round and smooth 
from the long distance which it trav- 
eled. Its home undoubtedly was near 
Lassellsville, where we find the same 
formation from whence it was torn 
and, in its travels, it was ground to its 
present dimensions. 

The terraces along the Otsquago 
valley show the height of water of the 
Albany lake. It is not so many cen- 
turies ago that this lake disappeared. 
It is probable that the early Aborigines 
knew of it and according to a tradition 
which has been handed down one day 
the Great Spirit became angry and 
swept across the lake and tore away 
the barrier at the Nose to appease his 
wrath. After the ice lobe had melted 
in this valley the waters of the Great 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



271 



Lakes continued to flow through the 
valley, as the St. Lawrence was still 
ice bound and continued so for a great 
many years. It was during this time 
that the gorge below Sprakers was 
worn through, and also the barrier at 
Little Falls was worn through. The 
glacial drift strung along the valley 
and the deposits which partially filled 
the Albany and Utica lakes formed an 
abrasive material and was more effec- 
tive to wear away these barriers than 
the glacial ice. 

The flood plain of the present Mo- 
hawk river is at least 15 feet above 
the old river bed which has been filled 
in by the debris brought down by the 
river and its tributaries. The Mohawk 
flats is a deposit by the river in times 
of floods of alluvium very rich in vege- 
table humus, which has made these 
flats famous for the growth of cereals 
and grass. The depth of this deposit 
varies from 6 to 10 feet in thickness 
and required centuries to form. 

At the close of the glacial period and 
diiring the early part of the Pleisto- 
cene period, a lai'ge part of this conti- 
nent was depressed 1,500 or 2,000 feet 
and, in emerging, remained for a long 
period at 400 or 500 feet below its pres- 
ent level. All those parts, therefore, 
which have now an elevation of less 
than that amount, were beneath the 
waters of the ocean. The glacier left 
a mantle over the land of fine material, 
interspersed with boulders, which was 
modified by other agencies into the" 
present soil. During this long period 
rivers and smaller streams had been 
operating to carry the sediment and 
other material from the hills down to 
the valleys, and had dug out deep 
channels by the abrasive materials 
carried along by the rapid currents. 
Partly in the village of Canajoharie, is 
a deep canon worn through the drift 
and the Utica slate by the waters of 
Bowman's (Canajoharie) creek, which 
came from a lake of water that cov- 
ered the flat lands in the valley from 
Ames westward and which received 
the drainage from the Sharon and 
Cherry Valley hills. Near Marshville, 
along the state road, is a licustrine de- 
posit of clay deposited there bj' the 



still waters of a pleistocene lake 
which emptied into Bowman's (Cana- 
joharie) creek. 

Finally, it was during this period 
that the huge animals, like the masta- 
don and a species of elephant, existed 
and roamed over the northern part of 
the United States, from the Hudson 
valley to the Rocky mountains. Ac- 
cording to tradition, the Indians saw 
living mastodons, which is undoubt- 
edly true. The climate was supposably 
the same as today, on the general av- 
erage. It is probable however, that the 
polar current, which has a westerly 
tendency into the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, may have chilled the waters 
that covered parts of New England 
and Canada. On the other hand, it is 
probable that the Gulf Stream flowed 
over the lower parts of the southern 
states, which would have a tendency 
to counteract the cold from the polar 
current. The changes of that period 
were similar to the changes which we 
observe today and which will continue 
in the future. The process of elevation 
and depression is very slow and it will 
require thousands of years to make a 
noticeable change in the general fea- 
tures of the Mohawk valley. 

Abram Devendorf. 

Fort Plain, April 24, 1913. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Western Montgomery County Schools 
— Supt. Alter's 1912 Report. 

The school districts in western 
Montgomery are divided among the 
towns as follows: St. Johnsville, 4; 
Canajoharie, 12; Minden, 17; Palatine, 
11; Root, 13. Superintendent N. B. 
Alter of this district, has kindly fur- 
nished this work with the following 
abstract of his 1912 report: 

The District Superintendent of 
Schools for the first district of Mont- 
gomery county has comijleted making 
the abstracts from the trustees' re- 
ports for that district. Following is a 
I'eport of the school conditions in that 
district. The figures include all of the 
schools. 

There are fifty-seven school districts 
in this supervisory district and the 
schools are housed in fifty-eight l)uild- 
ings — the village of St. Johnsville hav- 
ing two buildings. Forty-eight of these 



272 



THE STOKY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



buildings are frame buildings, live are 
brick and live are stone. All of the 
buildings are of the old type except 
eleven. Ihe total \alue of the school 
house sites was placed at $14,030. 
'ihere are only ten districts that own 
sites vv'hich are as large as they should 
be. Ihe value of the scliool buildings 
and furniture is Hxed at $145, 339. The 
apparatus is valued at $4,781 and the 
libraries at $12,267. All other prop- 
erty, including text books ovined by 
the school, is valued at $2,210. There 
are 15,892 volumes in the school li- 
braries, 991 being added last year. 

One hundred and eight teachers were 
required to look after the educational 
interests of the children. 1 hey held 
the following credentials: One State 
certihcate, three College Graduate cer- 
tilicates, two College Graduate Lim- 
ited certificates, live College Profes- 
sional certificates, five College Profes- 
sional Limited, twenty-eight Nornial 
diplomas, twenty-two Teachers' Train- 
ing Class certilicates and forty-four 
Commissioner's certificates. There 
was also one temporary certificate for 
part of the year. District number 2 in 
the town of Minden, in addition to 
maintaining a home school, also con- 
tracted with the village of St. Johns- 
ville for a part of the pupils in that 
district. There were seventeen men 
teachers and ninety-live women teach- 
ers employed in the schools during the 
year. 

The law specifies that the schools 
shall be in session at least thirty-two 
weeks. Nineteen out of the hfty-seven 
schools were satisfied with the mini- 
mum requirement. However, the av- 
erage term for the district was 175 
days. 

Another provision of the law is that 
a census of all of the children between 
the ages of 5 and IS must be taken 
during the last week in August. Ac- 
cording to figures submitted by the 
trustees there were 2,558 children of 
school age in the supervisory district 
the first of September, 1911. The reg- 
istration figures, which are absolutely 
correct, show that there were 2,640 
children in attendance during the year. 
In addition to this there were 59 reg- 
istered who were over IS. Of course, 
some of those registered might have 
been registered in other districts dur- 
ing the year. The fact remains, never- 
theless, that the census was not taken 
in many of the districts. The average 
daily attendance was 1,942, for pupils 
between 5 and 18 and 43 for pupils 
over 18. 

The District superintendent made 
263 official visits to the teachers under 
his supervision; 103 trees were planted 
on the school grounds; 72 school rec- 
ord certificates were issued. Eight ar- 
rests were made in connection with 



the Compulsory Education law. One 
was committed to a truant school. 

All of the schools carried a balance 
over to the last school year of $5,348.01. 
Twehe tliousand, six hundred and fifty 
dollars was recei\ed from the state for 
teachers' wages, $667.51 tor libraries 
and apparatus, $1,522.53 for tuition of 
academic pupils and $813.46 academic 
fund for quota and attendance; $89.26 
w as deducted from the teachers' wages 
for the teachers' retirement fund; 
$514.16 was received from individual 
pupils for tuition and $55,866.09 was 
raised Ijy tax; $3,608.01 was received 
from all other sources. The \illage of 
Canajoharie had the highest tax rate 
— $12 per thousand of \aluation. While 
district number 2, town of Minden, 
had the lowest, $2.73. We might add 
that this district does not own the site 
where the school house stands. 

Wages were i)aid to teachers as fol- 
lows: Principals received $7,750; men 
teachers, $4,835; women teachers, $42,- 
479.82. 

Other expenses were as follows: Li- 
braries, $1,002; text tiooks, $102.34; ap- 
paratus, $330.59; furniture, $501.92; 
repair, insurance, etc., $3,745.40; bond- 
ed indebtedness, principal, $2,000; in- 
terest, $777.20. Only two districts now 
have outstanding bonds. Two thous- 
and, four hundred and ninet.\--eight 
dollars and eighty cents was spent for 
janitors' wages; fuel, light., etc., cost 
$5,171.66; stationery and supplies, 
$636.99; attendance officers for three 
schools, $155. The towns pay the at- 
tendance officers for the common school 
districts. Some of the Union Free 
schools have their janitors act as at- 
tendance officer and have reported the 
cost in with the janitors' wages. In- 
cidental expenses claimed $2,598.34. A 
balance of $6,659.55 remains. 

Only two districts have libraries of 
50 volumes or less; 14 between 50 and 
100 volumes; 25 with 100 to 200 vol- 
umes; 11 have from 200 to 500 volumes; 
one has between 500 and 1,000 volumes 
and four have over 1,000 volumes in 
their school libraries. Every district 
has a school library. 

The average school term in the dis- 
trict was 175 days. There was an av- 
erage of 26 pupils to a teacher. There 
was an average daily attendance per 
teacher of 18. The per cent of daily 
attendance based on total enrollment 
was 69.5 per cent. The cost per pupil 
based on the average daily attendance 
was $37.50. The average weekly sal- 
ary per teacher (this takes in the prin- 
cipals, some of whom receive as high 
as $40 per week) was $14.19. The av- 
erage yearly salary was $509.86. The 
lowest salary paid was $304. 

It is a commonlj' accepted fact that 
the country boy and girl longs for the 
time when the country may be left be- 
hind and the joys of the city be real- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



273 



ized. Why? There must be a lack of 
attraction to draw the best that is 
produced in the country cityward. 
Country life must be made more at- 
tractive. The hard-headed farmer 
must realize that tlie place to start 
creating this attractiveness is in the 
country school. More money must be 
spent for country schools and this 
money must be spent in a better way. 
It is time for the people in the country 
to stop grumbling about taxes and get 
to work and place their school build- 
ings in such shape that they will com- 
pare favorably with their own homes. 
Think of storing coal and wood in the 
front hall of a home! Country folk 
do not even criticise storing fuel in the 
front hall of a school building. There 
are no high school tax rates in Mont- 
gomery county! 

The District Superintendent asked a 
trustee to repair a leaking roof — he 
has a child in the school. He put it off 
until after his fall work was finished. 
It seems to me that it must be uncom- 
fortal)le to say the least, to have to sit 
in a school room that is apt to drip 
water upon the student. 

The District Superintendent has 
asked every trustee in his district to 
buy slate blackboards for the schools. 
One finally agreed to paint the old 



boards at a cost of four dollars when 
eight dollars would have bought a per- 
manent board. In justice to the pro- 
gressive trustees of the first district, 
it may be added that twelve out of 
forty-seven not having slate boards 
have recently put in slate. There are 
more to follow. 

Think of the farmer boys and girls 
who are sent away from home for bet- 
ter school advantages! It shows that 
the farmer is at last coming to his own. 

Often regret for the good old school 
of thirty or forty years ago is heard — 
from fifty to a hundred pupils to the 
teacher. Three or four real bright 
ones in the lot — ten per cent of the 
whole getting what the whole are now 
getting. People wish today to com- 
pare the work of this little three or 
four with the entire school population 
today. Well they may do so for the 
whole now compare most favorably 
with that little three or four. If there 
is any dispute about it, the matter can 
easily be proven by a comparison with 
the finished product of the "old school." 

But this is not what we wish. 
Schools today are good. They do, how- 
ever, educate the boy and girl away 
from the farm. The gospel of paint, 
Ijlants and pictures must be preached. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Deforestation and Reforestation — De- 
nudation in Western Montgomery 
County — Arbor Day — Adirondack and 
National Forest Preserves — The For- 
ests and the Water Supply. 
In no part of the Mohawk watershed 
has the denudation of the original for- 
esct been more complete than in Mont- 
gomery county. There is left none of 
the virgin forest as the last piece of 
the ancient woods was destroyed with- 
in the past decade. Only a few scat- 
tered patches of woods remain and 
even they are being made way with. In 
view of the pitiful remains of the once 
great wood of the Mohawk valley, 
it seems incredible that this region 
was once entirely covered l)y a mag- 
nificent forest and that its trees fur- 
nished giant masts for the greatest 
sailing vessels and massive timbers 
for construction and building purposes. 
For the sake of the land, the rainfall 
and the welfare of the inhabitants 
scientific reforestation must be prac- 
tised. It is hoped that nature study, 



which is being largely taught Ameri- 
can children today, will aid in the fu- 
ture, in an intelligent understanding of 
the subject of forests. Our forefathers, 
whom we praise so highly, seem to 
have been utterly deficient in fore- 
sight. Much of the land they cleared 
so recklessly is useful only for wood 
growing and its intelligent reforesta- 
tion would have ensured many a far- 
mer a sure, continuous and growing 
income today with the increasing price 
of all useful woods. 

The case of the trees is so plain 
that it hardly seems worth arguing. 
Foreign lands from which the forests 
have been removed have often become 
worthless. Trees enrich the earth with 
their leaves, their roots, forming a 
network in the ground, hold the water, 
prevent floods and consequent soil 
erosion. Forest regions are blessed 
with rain just as desert wastes repel 
the water clouds. The constant tem- 
perature of trees (54 degrees) tends 
toward an equable temperature, win- 
ter and summer. The continual cir- 



274 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



culation of water from roots to leaves 
and from leaves into the air tends to 
make the earth healthful and properly 
drained and , fills the air with the 
moisture necessary to produce rain. 
Without a proper water supply man 
cannot exist and it has been truly said 
that the population of a given area 
depends more upon the rainfall of that 
section than any other item. This 
rainfall is essential, in this neighbor- 
hood, for power purposes as the in- 
creasing cost of fuel will force the 
utilization of every stream available. 
It is also needed to give a sufficient 
depth of water in the Barge canal. 
The rainfall of Central New York has 
been steadily decreasing lor a century, 
doubtless due to continued deforesta- 
tion. Trees purify the air and their 
healthful properties are' recognized by 
the sick who seek to return to normal 
conditions by living in the woods. 

All waste places should be planted to 
forests. Some trees, such as the valu- 
able cedar, will grow where nothing 
else will. All country roads should be 
tree planted on both sides, also side 
hills and all availabe places. Waste 
and unused land in villages and towns 
should be forested, including spaces 
about schools. We have seen how at- 
tractive a spot can be made by the 
planting of trees and shrubs in the 
example of the New York Central sta- 
tion at Fort Plain. Every home 
should be made (with native trees, 
shrubs and flowers) at least as 
attractive as a railroad station. 
As a Mohawk valley writer has 
truly said: "Learn about our grand 
native trees and teach your children 
about the land, its trees and their uses, 
and your posterity will long live to 
enjoy the naturally beautiful land you 
have adopted." The New York Bo- 
tanical Gardens, Bronx Borough, New 
York city, publishes a work (price 25 
cents) on "Native Trees of the Hudson 
Valley." The Mohawk valley forms a 
section of the Hudson valley and the 
greater part of these are found in our 
watershed. This is one of the most 
instructive and cheapest works on our 
native trees and is quite fully illus- 
trated with examples of the chief vari- 



eties. "Trees Every Child Should 
Know" (50 cents) is part of a nature 
library published by Doubleday, Page 
& Co. and is an interesting book for 
old and young. 

A list of the principal native trees of 
the Mohawk valley has been compiled, 
from "Native Trees of the Hudson 
Valley" and from the tree exhibits at 
the New York Museum of Natural 
History, as follows: 

Pine, spruce, hemlock, fir, cedar, ar- 
bor vitae, poplar, willow, basswood (or 
linden), oak, elm, plane (also called 
sycamore, buttonwood, buttonball), 
maple, ash, birch, Ijeech, hickory, but- 
ternut, crabapple, plum, wild cherry, 
choke cherry, hornbeam (ironwood), 
hackberry (or sugarberry), service- 
berry, witchhazel, sassafras, sour gum, 
sweet viburnum, thorn, sumac. Many 
of these trees have a number of varie- 
ties. Some trees which are quite com- 
mon, such as the horsechestnut, are 
not native, but imported. 

In sections distant from the Mo- 
hawk considerable land is reverting to 
wilderness, due to the abandonment of 
farmlands. This abandoned land, how- 
ever, generally runs to scrub growth 
instead of to forest, as it would if 
properly tree planted. In a few waste 
places, in western Montgomery coun- 
ty, young native trees have replanted 
themselves and are reoccupying the 
land. They are pleasant sights. 

Not only have we seen the disap- 
pearance of the virgin forest of the 
Mohawk but we have also been wit- 
nesses of the passing away of much of 
the beautiful verdure which made the 
Mohawk river such a picturesque 
stream a quarter of a century and 
more ago. The Barge canal is com- 
pleting this destruction and it is up to 
the state to replant where they have 
destroyed, not only for the sake of 
beauty but to protect the canalized- 
river banks from the current. With 
the introduction of electric lights in 
the villages of western Montgomery 
county, much of the foliage of the 
trees in the streets has been mutilated 
to allow the electric lights to illumi- 
nate the surrounding grounds. Our 
village trees have suffered more from 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



275 



unintelligent trimming in the past 
twenty years than in their whole life 
previous. Some of our village trees 
have grown to magnificent proportions 
(particularly our elms) and it is hoped 
that they will be spared both trim- 
ming and destruction. Shade trees ac- 
tually need no trimming whatever. 
The most beautiful specimens are 
those which have been untouched, as 
witness the Prospect hill (Fort Plain) 
giant elm and the occasional meadow 
elm, oak, maple, beech or pine which 
has grown to stately and pleasing pro- 
portions, untouched by the hand of 
man. 

In regard to the subject, the follow- 
ing, from the bulletin of the Tree 
Planting association, will be found of 
interest: 

How few realize as they pass a 
tree on the street that, although si- 
lent and tlxed in its position, it is 
more intimately related to our* lives 
than any living object. It is only by 
grace of that tree that we "live and 
move and have our being" on this 
earth. Destroy it and its kind and 
human life would he impossible on 
this planet. 

Science teaches that the food of the 
tree is the poisonous carbon dioxide 
which we exhale at every breath, and 
that the vitalizing element of the air 
we inhale is the life-giving oxygen 
which the tree through its leaves sup- 
plies abundantly. 

As we enter the shade of a tree in 
full leafage, on a hot summer day, 
we feel a thrill of energy which 
quickens our footsteps, expands our 
chests, brightens our thoughts, and 
gives a new impulse to all our vital 
processes. What has happened? We 
have thrown out of our lungs the de- 
pressing dioxide and replaced it with 
the exhilarating oxygen from the 
nearby tree. 

If we cross one of our avenues on 
a hot day when the temperature is 
130 degrees F. and pass into the shade 
of a tree we are refreshed by the cool 
air. What makes the change? Not 
the shade alone, but chiefly because 
we are in the presence of a body that 
has a fixed temperature of 54 de- 
gree F., or 76 degrees F. cooler than 
the street. If on a cold winter's day 
we pass from a temperature of the 
street, at zero, into a group of trees, 
we are surprised at the warmth. This 
is not only due to the shelter they 
afford, but more largely to the 
warmth of the tree, which at 54 de- 
grees E. is 54 degrees F. warmer than 
the street. 



These facts suggest that if our 
streets were well supplied with vig- 
orous trees we should have much 
cooler summers and warmer winters, 
as the temperature of the tree never 
varies from 54 degrees F. in summer's 
heat or winter's cold. 

The tree has the power of absorb- 
ing and thus removing from the air 
the malarial emanations from the 
street, and from putrifying waste 
matter, so abundant in cities. In 
this respect they are the scavangers 
of the air and protect people from 
a large number of what are known 
liy sanitarians as "filth diseases." 
The older physicians record the fact 
that as the forests were removed new 
and fatal fevers, hitherto unknown, 
appeared. 

Transpiration is another function 
of a tree which contributes greatly 
to man's comfort and health. This 
act consists in absorbing large quan- 
tities of water from the earth and 
emitting it as by spraying, into the 
surrounding air, by its leaves. This 
is a very cooling process and tends 
powerfully to reduce excessive tem- 
perature in the vicinity of the tree. 
The amount of water thus thrown 
into the air by a single tree varies 
with the weather, increasing as the 
temperature rises and diminishing as 
it falls. 

The value of a single tree in thus 
modifying temperature was strikingly 
shown by the late Prof. Pierce of Har- 
vard college, who made a mathemati- 
cal study of the foliage of the famous 
"Washington Elm." The tree was then 
very old and decayed, but he found 
that it bore a crop of 7,000,000 leaves, 
exposing a surface of 200,000 square 
feet, or about five acres of foliage. 
Now, as one acre of grass emits into 
the air 6,400 ciuarts of water in 24 
hours, it follows that this old tree 
sprayed into the surrounding air 32,- 
000 quarts, or 8 000 gallons, or upward 
of 260 barrels of water every day. 

Concrete examples are necessary in 
order to impress upon people certain 
truths. The general public's familiar- 
ity with Bible lands may help to show 
forcibly, by the reading of the follow- 
ing extract, the value of forests to all 
lands — to the Mohawk valley as well 
as to Palestine. The following is from 
the Christian Herald: 

One of the most remarkable illustra- 
tions in all history of the ill effects of 
the disappearance of forests may be 
<_>bserved in Palestine. In the days 
when Joshua conquered the promised 
land Palestine was a wonderfully fer- 
tile country, -a land flowing with milk 
and honey. The Lebanon mountains 
were heavily wooded, and a large pop- 
ulation was siipi)orted in comfort. 



276 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



The general devastation of the for- 
ests brought aljout, however, a grad- 
ual deterioration of the country. The 
hills of Galilee, which had long served 
as pasture lands for large herds of 
cattle and sheep, are now sterile. The 
Jordan has become an insignificant 
stream, and several smaller rivers are 
now completely dried up throughout 
the greater part of the year. Some few 
valleys in which fertile earth washed 
down from the hills has been deposited 
have retained their old fertility. The 
land today supports only one-sixth the 
population of the time of Solomon. 

New York state has taken the most 
advanced position as to forestry of any 
of the United States. Its Adirondack 
state park, established by the act of 
1892, will contain 2,800,000 acres when 
completed and embraces the northern 
part of Herkimer county, all of Ham- 
ilton and parts of St. Lawrence, Frank- 
lin, -Essex and Warren counties, an 
area equal to that of Connecticut. 
This contains the highest peaks of the 
Adirondacks, including the highest 
peak, Mt. Marcy. The region is filled 
with 1,200 lakes and is drained by 
twenty large rivers. It is well stock- 
ed with tish and game. 

A considerable part of the northern 
Mohawk valley watershed lies in the 
Adirondack Park, as the headwaters of 
the West Canada and East Canada 
creeks are in this public domain. East 
Canada creek, as we all know, forms 
the western border of the town of St. 
Johnsville in western Montgomery 
county. Both those streams furnish 
abundant water power and it is reas- 
suring to know that their water flow 
is largely protected by their sources 
being within the Adirondack Park. 
They also furnish a great volume of 
water to the Barge canal and hence 
their water supply is of the greatest 
importance to New York state. 

New York also has the Interstate 
Park, as the west bank of the lower 
Hudson, and other forest lands. 

Arbor Day was originally advocated 
by the Nebraska State Board of Agri- 
culture in 1874, the second Wednesday 
in April being suggested as a school 
holiday, trees to be planted on that 
day and appropriate school exercises 
to be held. This school observance of 
this day has been adopted by about 



forty states, New York among them. 
In 1912, the school children of western 
Montgomery county planted 103 trees 
on their school grounds. Arbor Day 
was established by New York state 
about twenty-five years ago and if 
the proportion of three planting has 
been kept up during that time then 
over 2,000 trees have been set out by 
our school children, a record of which 
they may be proud. 

Our social and patriotic societies 
might well aid the cause of forestry. 
Our women's organizations could do 
much toward the care, protection and 
planting of village and countryside 
trees. Also our fishing and sporting 
clubs should foster the woods on which 
their sports and pleasure depend and 
they should aim to protect the woods 
as well as the game and to plant new 
woods wherever possible. The busi- 
ness men should, by acts and public 
sentiment, aid the protection of our 
watercourses and the forests of their 
basins. On the woodlands of streams 
used for power purposes depends the 
constant supply of that power by the 
conservation of the water. On this 
conservation depends the electric 
light, heat and power furnished by 
these power developments, which will 
form such a feature of communities in 
the future, when coal and oil have be- 
come exhausted in supply. This is 
true of the West Canada and Caroga 
creeks which have been electrically 
developed and should also apply to the 
valleys of all the larger streams of 
western Montgomery which will be 
utilized electrically in time. 

There is at least one instance of the 
practical application of scientific for- 
estry in the Mohawk valley. The local 
officials of Dolgeville are interesting 
themselves in a project to apply prin- 
ciples of scientific forestry to the clas- 
sification and cultivation of trees in 
Schuyler Ingham Park, the beautiful 
100-acre tract of wooded hillside that 
was given to the village by Mr. 
Ingham. The proposition is to form a 
park improvement society and ascer- 
tain the best methods of tree culture, 
so that a practical demonstration may 
be had of what can be done along this 
line. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



277 



CHAPTER IX. 

1894-1914 — Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty Hydro-Electric Development on 
East and Caroga Creeks. 

Few sections of New York of such 
comparatively small area (about 125,- 
000 acres) have seen such important 
hydro-electric development within or 
on its borders as western Montgomery 
county. In the twenty years, from 
1894 to 1914, has been witnessed the 
erection of dams and power plants on 
East creek and Caroga creek. With 
the increasing cost of fuel other 
streams may be electrically developed 
and it is not improbable that the Ots- 
quago, Canajoharie, Flat Creek, Yates- 
ville, Zimmerman, Timmerman, Crum 
creek and even other western Mont- 
gomery county streams may be utilized 
for electrical power purposes. Just as 
it is now (1914) prophesied that the 
old time sailing vessels will soon again 
be carrying the slow freight of the 
seas, so is the manufacturer again 
turning to our first motive power — 
water; and both for the same reason — 
the increasing cost of coal and oil with 
no prospect of relief. For the same 
reason waterways, such as the Barge 
canal, will be the heavy and slow 
freight carriers of the future. 

For hydro-electric development pur- 
poses and to protect our waterways, 
we must conserve our forests and 
woods about the headwaters of the 
streams utilized. This shows how the 
subject of forestry has become import- 
ant at it interlocks with so much of our 
industrial and commercial life. 

At Ephratah 5,400 H. P. is devel- 
oped, at East Creek, 2,000 H. P., at 
Ingham's Mills, 8,000 H. P. and at 
Dolgeville 2,500 H. P., in all 17,900 H. 
P. generated by East and Caroga 
creeks, with ijossilulities of still fur- 
ther increase. 

This electric power is claimed to be 
as cheap as any furnished in the east- 
ern states and eventually is bound to 
make the villages of western Mont- 
gomery county industrial centers of 
importance. The towns in western 
Montgomery county, which are par- 
ticularly interested in this electrical 



generation are St. Johnsville, Fort 
Plain-Nelliston and Canajoharie-Pala- 
tine Bridge, while the villages or ham- 
lets in western Fulton county inter- 
ested in the development or use of 
tlys power are Dolgeville (7 miles from 
the Mohawk); Ingham's Mills, in the 
town of Manheim and Oppenheim (4 
miles from the Mohawk) ; Caroga, in 
the town of Ephratah (9V^ miles from 
the Mohawk); Ephratah, in the town 
of Ephratah (6 miles from the Mo- 
hawk). The foregoing are all airline 
distances. 

The first conservation of water 
power on a considerable scale in 
Montgomery or Fulton counties seems 
to have been accomplished by Am- 
sterdam manufacturers. In 1848 a dam 
was built across the Chuctanunda 
above the Forest paper mill. In 1855 
the Galway reservoir covering 450 
acres (at Galway, Saratoga county, 
northeast of Amsterdam), was built. 
This was enlarged in 1865 and 1875 to 
an area of stored water of 1,000 acres. 
This water system has been largely 
responsible for the industrial import- 
ance of Amsterdam. 

The following was written during 
the summer of 1913 by William Irving 
Walter of St. Johnsville with regard 
to hydro-electric development of East 
creek: 

"A gradual development of the elec- 
trical energy from the powers supplied 
by the falls at East Creek and its pro- 
gress in eliminating steam as a motive 
power in St. Johnsville. vicinity and, in 
fact, throughout the Mohawk valley is 
just beginning to attract a small por- 
tion of the attention that such a fea- 
ture in the never-ceasing industrial 
revolution deserves. The announce- 
ment that the Lion Manufacturing Co., 
the pioneer in the knitting industry in 
St. Johnsville, has just completed the 
installation of electricity instead of 
steam in all its departments excepting 
for heating purposes, and that the 
same work is now going forward in 
the piano action factory of F. Engel- 
hardt & Sons 'S an epoch in the local 
industrial development. 

"This leaves steam as a motive power 
only in the Union Mills (Royal Gem 



278 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



knitting mills) and the Clark Machine 
Co.'s works with the possibility that 
these exceptions may at no distant day 
be eliminated. This attracts public at- 
tention to the great development of the 
forces which for years ran to waste 
unheeded at our doors, from the days 
when the Mohawk, sole lord of the val- 
ley, passed the cataract with indifferent 
eyes. 'As the brown bear blind and 
dull to the grand and beautiful." It 
was in 1894, during one of the most 
severe depressions the country has 
ever known, that Guy R. Beardsley be- 
gan the revival of East Creek as a fac- 
tor in business conditions of the Mo- 
hawk valley. We say revival, for at 
the beginn'ng of the nineteenth cen- 
tury East Creek bid fair to become one 
of the leading centers of the state. 
John Beardslee (born in Sharon, Conn., 
November, 1759.. died at East Creek 
October 3, 1825), who came to the Mo- 
hawk valley in 1787, as a builder and 
a millwright, left his impress upon this 
part of central New York. The con- 
struction by the authorities of Mont- 
gomery county of the old covered 
bridge at East Creek, brought h'm to 
East Creek where he purchased a large 
tract of land and erected saw and 
grist mills and a carding mill half a 
mile north of the turnpike. These 
were operated in 1794. These were 
followed by stores, hotels, a distillery, 
nail factory, brewery, etc., until about 
1800 "Beardslee's city' as it was col- 
loquially termed had few if any su- 
periors west of Schenectady. The 
opening of the turnpike road giving 
access to western New York and turn- 
ing immigration that way, and the 
fact that only the ruder sorts of man- 
ufacturing establishments were called 
for in the social and industrial condi- 
tions then existing, operated against 
the permanence of the East Creek set- 
tlement, and the construction and com- 
pletion of the Erie canal (1817-25) 
completed its ruin. The settlement 
dwindled until finally the Jerome hotel, 
the last survivor of the old East Creek 
went out of existence about the time 
Mr. Beardslee began the revival of 
East Creek as an industrial factor. 
Causes not to be discussed here post- 



poned the conversion of the valley into 
a great manufacturing hive until the 
years succeeding the Civil war and al- 
most simultaneously with the revival 
of business which succeeded the de- 
pression of 1893-7, the East Creek 
Electric works passed from hope to 
reality, March, 1898. Within a decade 
and a half the electricity developed 
by the East Creek Electric Light and 
Power Co. has liecome a prime factor in 
the industrial, economic and social life 
of St. Johnsville, Fort Plain, Canajo- 
harie and Sharon Springs. It operates 
the Fonda, Johnsown and Gloversville 
railroad and also, in conjunction with 
the Utica electric works, from Amster- 
dam to Rome with the connecting 
point at that marvelous fabric of en- 
gineering and electrical skill at Ing- 
hams Mills. 

"The Union Knitting Co. (Wesley 
Allter & Son) was the first estab- 
li.shment in St. Johnsville to dis- 
card steam for electricity and with the 
present system of separate motors do- 
ing away with so much shafting and 
belting and the consequent waste of 
power. In the piano works the amount 
of power required is such that a sep- 
arate sub-station for those extensive 
works is now in course of construc- 
tion. 

"The Royal (now Royal Gem) knit- 
ting mill founded in 1898 by J. H. 
Reaney and O. W. Fox in the building 
now occupied by the extensive music 
roll business of F. Engelhardt & Sons, 
was equipped from the beginning with 
electrical motive power, but when in 
December, 1901, the business was re- 
moved to the present Royal Gem Mill 
on New street, it had so outgrown the 
electrical development of East creek 
falls that steam power was installed. 
Since that time the Union Mills man- 
agement has begun the installat'on of 
electric energy in some departments 
with the probability of increasing its 
use. Mr. Beardslee found it necessary 
for the utilization of the falls to in- 
crease h's riparian holdings and fin- 
ally his successors, the East Creek 
Electric Light and Power Co. controll- 
ed both banks of the East Canada 
creek until the immediate vicinity of 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



279 



Dolgeville is reached, the height of the 
Inghams Mills dam having been regu- 
lated by the tail race of the Dolgeville 
plant of the Utica Gas and Electric 
Co., thus placing the whole power de- 
rived from this stream under the con- 
trol of managements which work in 
unison for the development of the 
forces which for uncounted ages ran 
to waste. 

"The East Creek falls are al)out 
three-quarters of a mile in length, de- 
scending in that distance one hundred 
and eighty feet, the descent beginning 
at the Snell farm. Six of the descents 
deserve the name of cataract. The 
scenery has not been marred but rather 
improved by the erection of the elec- 
trical works, for "Dance of waters, and 
mill of grinding, both have beauty and 
both are useful." The fall of water 
utilized by the dam here is 120 feet, 
which drives two turbines each of 1,000 
horse power, both connected with gen- 
erators, one of 450 and the other of 
500 K. W. power with turbine gover- 
nors and exciters duplicated with the 
exception of step-up transformer. The 
surplus of the power generated here is 
transferred when needed to the lines 
of the Utica Gas and Electric Co. at a 
point between Dolgeville and Little 
Falls. 

"The East Creek Electric Light and 
Power Co. came into being in 1902. In 
1893 when Mr. Beardslee decided upon 
this undertaking which has grown far 
beyond his anticipation, he applied to 
the authorities of Little Falls for a 
franchise for the purpose of supplying 
the city with electric light and power. 
Although the people of Little Falls 
were very insistent at that time in 
their demands for a city charter they 
were too conservative to seize this op- 
portunity and Mr. Beardslee turned his 
attention to the lower valley. In 1895 
the firm of Roth & Engelhardt (whose 
successful establishment of the piano 
action industry at St. Johnsville dur- 
ing a period of phenomenal business 
depression was attracting considerable 
attention and placing themselves and 
the village of their location among the 
influences to be considered in the bus- 
iness world) added a lighting plant to 



their St. Johnsville piano works. This 
Mr. Beardslee purchased of Roth & 
Engelhardt in 1898. 

"The dam at Dolgeville was con- 
structed by Alfred Dolge in 1897, and 
an electric plant installed, which ulti- 
mately passed into the hands of the 
Utica Gas and Electric Co. This plant 
generates about 2,500 H. P. 

"Mr. Beardslee, who initiated the East 
Creek improvement, has for some years 
taken little or no part in its manage- 
ment but has devoted himself to his 
private interests and especially to his 
dairy, composed of thoroughbred 
blooded stock. He suffered severe 
losses in the winter of 1907 by the 
burning of li:'s barn and destruction of 
his dairy, but he was not disheartened 
and set himself to work repairing his 
losses with the indefatigable energy 
which deserved and achieved success. 
His father, Augustus Beardslee, son of 
John Beardslee, was a well known 
character in his day. He was born at 
East Creek August 13, 1801, died there 
March 15, 1873. An alumnus of Pair- 
Held sem'nary and Union college he 
was admitted to the bar and tilled the 
positions of judge of the court of com- 
mon pleas and, member of assembly. 
Outside of these his studies and his 
private business occupied his time, 
and, thoroughly conservative, he felt 
no inclination to become a pioneer in 
the work of industrial development 
which may be said to have only begun 
in his declining years. In politics he 
was a Democrat of the old school and 
attended a national convention at 
Charleston, S. C, in April, 1860, as a 
member of the Mozart hall delegation. 
The failure of this movement left him 
out of touch with political conditions 
and he took no pains to adapt himself 
to the new situation and issues evolv- 
ed by the Civil war, but passed his 
latter years as one of the surviving 
Democrats of the Jacksonian school. 

"The present chapter in_ the history 
of the East Creek electrical develop- 
ment opened with the construction of 
the Inghams Mills dam and power 
plant. Of the thousands that pass 
every day up and down the Mohawk 
valley, few realize what a work of art. 



280 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



science and utility exists a few miles 
up the wild-appearing gorge which 
they pass with hardly a glance as the 
Twentieth Century or the Empire 
State trains fly by. In fact, the ap- 
proach to the twin plants of the East 
Creek Electric Light and Power Co. is 
more in keeping with our ideas of the 
scenes of Scott's novels and poems of 
the Scottish Highlands than of Central 
New York. Inghams Mills, like many 
of the country hamlets, had its rise 
and decadence. The grist mill now 
disused was constructed in 1802 by 
Col. William Feeter and in the last 
years of its operation was the oldest 
grist m^ll in Herkimer county. The 
village became a busy place for years 
but as steam became the accredited 
agent of propulsion it slowly lost its 
position until 1909, when the electric 
plant was begun, to be completed in 
1912. The dam, one of the show places 
of the valley, is 123 feet in height, 87 
feet thick at the bottom, 12 feet at the 
top and 605 feet in length, setting back 
the water three miles, to the village of 
Dolgeville. The brick building con- 
taining the power plant, is one of the 
most complete of its kind. Two tur- 
bines each connected with a generator 
of 4,000 H. P., 8,000 in all, generate the 
mysterious element of which we know 
so little, but fear and dread so much. 
The plant at Inghams Mills is dupli- 
cated throughout more completely 
than that at East Creek. A breakage 
or other accident to one turbine or 
generator would cause no inconveni- 
ence to patrons of the system, the 
parts of the machinery being inter- 
changeable. The use of induction mo- 
tors is another great improvement over 
the former system but is one of those 
things, which while the results are ap- 
l)reciated by the general public, in- 
volves technicalities which are not 
easily understood by those who have 
not been initiated into the mysteries of 
electrical science. One plant being 
known as a 25 cycle plant with 3,000 
alternations per minute, the other a 
60 cycle plant with 7,200 alternations 
per m'nute, it became necessary to 
have some point where what is termed 
a change of frequency can take place. 



This is provided at the su))-station in 
Manheim, where connection is made 
with the line of the Utica company. 

"We will close by calling attention to 
the work at present being done to in- 
sure a larger and more regular supply 
of water. The Durey Lumber Co. is 
now engaged under a contract with 
the East Creek Electric Light and 
Power Co. in constructing storage 
dams at the outlet of Irving pond. Pine 
lake and Nine Corners lake in the near 
Adirondacks for the purpose of secur- 
ing a uniform supply of water power. 
The subject of erecting an additional 
storage dam between East Creek and 
Inghams Mills has also been mooted. 
The work is l)eing done under the su- 
pervsion of Viele, I>lackwell & Buck, 
engineers and builders of New York 
city, who also constructed the Inghams 
Mills dam. a piece of workmanship 
which owing to its secluded situation 
is visited by comparatively few peo- 
ple, but which is worthy of much more 
attention from the public than it has 
received." 

E. W. Tuttle. formerly of Fort Plain, 
furnished the following concerning the 
electric development of the water 
power of Peck Pond and East and 
West Caroga lakes and Caroga creek 
by the Mohawk Hydro- Electric com- 
pany, whose two main lines run to Fort 
Plain and to Gloversville-Johnstown. 
The Fort Plain line was opened in 1912. 

Recent developments in electrical 
transmission of power have exerted a 
marked inlluence on the manufactur- 
ing activities of the Mohawk valley. 
An example in point is found in Fort 
Plain, N. Y., where, with the comple- 
tion of the direct transmission line of 
the Mohawk Hydro-Electric company, 
in February, 1912, a new phase of in- 
dustrial possibilities was entered upon. 

A feature of special interest in con- 
nection with this hydro-electric devel- 
opment is its storage system, which 
utilizes natural sources of supply in 
.«iich a manner as to be practically in- 
dependent of rainfall variation. This 
enables the company to deliver a reli- 
able, uninterrupted primary power 
throughout the year at the lowest rate 
known in the Eastern states. 

The reserxoir system of the develop- 
ment consists of three considerable 
natural lakes and an artificial reser- 
voir. The lakes are: Peck's, with an 
area of 1,500 acres, which is owned by 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



281. 



the company; and East and West Car- 
oga, with a combined area of 700 acres, 
from which the company has the right 
to draw 4i/^ feet of water. 1 he level 
of Peck's lake has been raised 24 feet 
by a dam 900 feet long and 36 feet 
high, of arch and buttress construc- 
tion. The water from both of these 
bodies is conveyed to the main reser- 
voir, a distance of 12 miles, through 
tlie natural channel of Caroga creek. 
This main reseivoir, located at Garoga 
village, about two miles from the 
power station, has an area of 50 acres. 
It is formed by a concrete arch and 
buttress forebay dam 720 feet long, 58 
feet high and having a spillway 260 
feet in length. 

A surface pipe line or tunnel con- 
ducts the water from the forebay pond 
to the power station, a distance of 
11,430 feet. This tunnel is of varied 
construction, to meet the pressure re- 
quirements of its several sections. 
From the dam the first 400 feet is a 
concrete conduit; the next section, 
8,7(0 feet in length, is a 72-inch wood 
stave pipe, enlarging into a 1,460-foot 
section of 96-inch pipe of the same 
construction; and the terminal sec- 
tion, 1,010 feet long, is a 96-inch steel 
pipe. Excessive surges or water-ham- 
mer In the pipe have been guarded 
against by a surge tower of reinforced 
concrete 55 feet high and 25 feet in 
diameter, situated on the brow of the 
hill from which the pipe finally de- 
scends to the turbines. The effectual 
head developed is 285 feet, with a loss 
of approximately 10 feet in pipe line, 
with 3 units full load. 

1 he power station is of concrete 
foundation and rubble masonry walls, 
designed for four generating units, of 
which three have been installed. The 
hydraulic equipment consists of three 
l.SOO H. P. Smith-Francis turbines of 
the horizontal single runner type, oper- 
ating at 720 revolutions per minute. 
The electrical equipment of each imit 
is a 3 phase, 60 cycle, 2,300 volt gener- 
ator of 1,250 K. V. A. capacity. The 
current from the generators is deliv- 
ered to two banks of three transform- 
ers (and one spare), of 500 K. V. A. 
each, which step it up from 2,300 to 
23,000 volts. The out-going lines are 
equipped with electrolytic lightning 
arresters. 

There are two transmission lines 
known as the Gloversville- Johnstown 
and the Fort Plain lines. The former 
is a 10-mile, 23,000 volt line, transmit- 
fng power to the Fulton County Gas 
«^"' Electric company, which corpora- 
tion, purchasing in bulk, serves the 
cities of Gloversville and Johnstown 
and adjacent communities. The latter 
is a 7-mile. 23,000 volt line, direct to 
the suli-station at Fort Plain. 

The tran.«mission towei's arc of twd 
types — 4 -legged and "A" frames. They 



are designed for two 3-phase circuits 
on the nrst named line and one circuit 
on the Fort Plain line — the latter con- 
sisting of three No. 1 hard drawn solid 
copper wires. 

'i he suii-station at Fort Plain is of 
hollow tile and brick construction and 
has complete equipment for stepping 
down from 23,000 to 2,300 volts, to- 
gether with approved protective de- 
v ices and measuring instruments. 

During the first eighteen months of 
its operation the plant has carried the 
entire load of the cities of Johnstown 
and Gloversville, serving a population 
of over 36,000 people continuously 24 
hours a day, with but one interruption 
of six minutes. This operating period 
includes the summer months of 1911 
and 1912 which were seasons of un- 
usual dryness. In spite of these se- 
vere conditions the storage at Peck's 
lake has had a draught of only three 
feet made on it at the end of the pres- 
ent summer season, leaving a reserve 
of over a billion cubic feet of stored 
water. The electric legulation on the 
company's power circuit has been re- 
markablj' good, the management of the 
Fulton county compan.N''s system stat- 
ing that both as to reliability and reg- 
ulation the serv'ce is far superior to 
that which they had been able to ob- 
tain from their own steam plant. 

The complete plant was designed by 
Barclay. Parsons & Klapp, New York 
city. Work was started in May. 1910. 
The Gloversville-Johnstown load was 
taken on in P^'ebruary, 1911, and the 
Fort Plain service inaugurated in Feb- 
ruary, 1912. 



CHAPTER X. 

1825-1913 — Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty and the Five Townships of Min- 
den, Canajonarie, Root, Palatine and 
St. Johnsville. 

This is the second chapter relating 
to western Montgomery county and its 
five towns of Minden, Canajoharie, 
Root, Palatine and St. Johnsville. The 
first treated of the period in this ter- 
ritory from 1689, the date of settle- 
ment of Palatine by Hendrick Frey, to 
1825 — the year of the completion of the 
Erie canal, and covered details local to 
these towns not contained in the more 
general historical chapters. This 
chapter deals with the later period 
during the years from 1825 to 1913. 

Among the wonderfully varied coun- 
try of land water and mountains con- 
tained within New York state that of 
the Mohawk valley holds a justly famed 



282 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



position. From the days of the earliest 
settlers our river and its watershed 
were celebrated throughout the thir- 
teen colonies and in Canada. The 
Canadian Indians with Chaniplain 
sang to him praises of this then pri- 
meval region. The old Canajoharie 
and Palatine districts and its river 
sections contained in western Mont- 
gomery county, hold much that is 
beautiful and typical of the Mohawk 
valley. This territory formed a large 
part of the old Indian country of 
Canajoharie and later of the civil 
divisions of the Canajoharie and Pala- 
tine districts of Tryon county. To- 
gether with the added towns of Dan- 
ube and Manheim of Herkimer county 
it comprised the entire river section of 
those districts. 

Western Montgomery county is a 
country of high, rolling hills and fer- 
tile flats. Much of its farm lands are 
rich, some are today (191.3) much "run 
out." It is a noted farming section 
and famous dairying region, growing 
hay, oats, corn, fruit and poultry. 
On the south side hops were once 
raised generally, now only slightly. 
From its surface the forest, which 
originally overspread this river region, 
as well as the greater part of the 
eastern United States, has been al- 
most completely denuded. It should be 
the work of the valley men of today 
and the future to bring back to that 
land, which is poorly suited for agri- 
culture but adapted to forest growth, 
those great woods and trees of old, 
which enrich the land, store up pure 
water and induce rains, and which give 
life and health to the people. These 
same valley men should bring, from 
the small remnants of these woods, 
the trees, shrubs and flowers which 
are typical of this old region of the 
earth, and surround their homes with 
these native growths, making places of 
beauty where now are frequently bar- 
ren, naked grounds. 

The Mohawk, in western Montgom- 
ery county, runs a course from north- 
west to southeast, from Palatine 
Church to below Canajoharie — a dis- 
tance of seven miles out of the seven- 
teen miles of river which wind 



through the five western towns. This 
course, which varies from the general 
eastern direction of the Mohawk, was 
noted by the Dutch travelers and ex- 
plorers whose journey here in 1634 is 
mentioned in Chapter I of this work. 
The Mohawk of fifty years ago was a 
river of much 'beauty, with tree-lined 
banks, faintly suggesting that won- 
derful stream of the seventeenth cen- 
tury running between forest covered 
hills. Until the Barge canal opera- 
tions it retained much of this attrac- 
tiveness in parts. Most of the beau- 
tiful views obtainable, in the region 
we are considering, are to be seen 
from the highlands directly bordering 
the river. Such a low elevation (of 
iOO feet above the river) as Prospect 
Hill in Fort Plain, gives charming 
vistas while the outlook westward 
from the west side of the Big Nose, 
at an elevation of 600 feet, gives a 
view of the valley which is magnifi- 
cent. 

Several of the Mohawk's most im- 
portant tributaries enter the river in 
western Montgomery county. Two of 
these, the East and Caroga creeks run 
down through their hill-bordered val- 
leys from the lakeland of Fulton 
county and enter their parent stream 
at East Creek and Palatine Church, re- 
spectively. Both produce abundant 
water power. On the south shore, the 
Otsquago, entering the Mohawk at 
Fort Plain, the Canajoharie at Cana- 
joharie, Flat creek at Sprakers, and 
i'atesville or Wasontha, at Randall, 
are tributaries of the river of the sec- 
ond class. Much of the most beautiful 
scenery in this section is contained 
along the valleys of these streams. 
The small falls and rapids above East 
Creek station on East creek are of 
considerable beauty. 

On Flat creek, a mile or more south 
of Sprakers, is a considerable fall of 
water, but most attractive of all the 
landscape features of western Mont- 
gomery county is the Canajoharie 
Falls at the upper end of the famed 
Canajoharie gorge which begins at the 
Canajoharie of yore and the Canajo- 
harie of today — the old otone "pot" in 



THE STOKY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



288 



the creek's bed which lies on the 
southern limits of the village itself. 

Situated in the middle of this fertile 
river farming country are three cen- 
ters of population which today are 
modern, progressive, well-kept Amer- 
ican villages of the best type and of 
which their citizens may well be proud. 
These are St. Johnsville, Fort Plain 
(including Nelliston) and Canajoharie 
(including Palatine Bridge). All these 
three places are market towns for the 
surrounding country and much manu- 
facturing is done in them all, many of 
the products being famous the country 
over. All are excellent places of resi- 
dence, not as yet (1913) being overrun 
with a foreign population, alien in 
every way to the thoroughly American 
population of western Montgomery 
county. It is to be hoped that this 
condition will continue in spite of that 
urban growth which is sure to come. 
The villages mentioned are typical of 
other small towns and even of the 
cities of the Mohawk valley. As the 
town giving its title to this work, Fort 
Plain has been selected as the village 
whose story is detailed from 1825 to 
1913, but the same social, agricultural, 
labor and manufacturing details no- 
ticed are largely true of St. Johnsville 
and Canajoharie and of the country- 
side also, so that in reading the 
story of Fort Plain and the town of 
Minden, we scan that of western 
Montgomery county and its villages as 
well. Although imaginary lines of 
geographical demarcation are of but 
little real value, it may interest the 
reader to know that western Mont- 
gomery contains about 125,000 acres 
(about half the area of the county) 
and is about the size of Schenectady 
county. Its combined population is 
about 16,000. 

In western Montgomery county are 
located three of the historic churches 
and several of the pre-RevoIutionary 
houses of the Mohawk valley. 

The population of western Mont- 
gomery county in 1840 was 16,378 and 
in 1850, 15,939 divided as follows: 
Minden, 4,623; Canajoharie, 4,097; 
Root, 2,736; Palatine, 2,856; St. Johns- 
ville, 1,627. The populations of Min- 



den and St. Johnsville only have in- 
creased from 1850 to 1910 and this has 
been due entirely to the growth of the 
villages of St. Johnsville and Fort 
Plain. The incorporated places of 
Fort Plain and Canajoharie (then the 
only ones in western Montgomery) did 
not have their population given sep- 
arately in the census of 1850. 

The census of 1880 was the first in 
which the population of all the villages 
of the west end of Montgomery county 
were returned. The census figures of 
1880 by towns follow: Minden, 5,100; 
Canajoharie, 4,294; Root, 2,275; Pala- 
tine, 2,786; St. Johnsville, 2,002. To- 
tal population of the five western 
towns of Montgomery county (1880), 
16,457. Population of the villages: 
Fort Plain, 2,443; Canajoharie, 2,013; 
St. Johnsville, 1,072; Nelliston, 558; 
Palatine Bridge, 332. 

The 1910 population of the five west- 
ern towns of Montgomery county — 
Minden, Canajoharie, Root, Palatine, 
St. Johnsville — was 15,932, divided 
among the townships as follows: 
Minden, 4,645; Canajoharie, 3,888; 
Root, 1,512; Palatine, 2,517; St. Johns- 
ville, 3,369. The population of the five 
villages was as follows: Fort Plain, 
2,762; St. Johnsville, 2,536; Canajo- 
harie, 2,273; Nelliston, 737, Palatine 
Bridge, 392. 

While there are five incorporated 
villages in western Montgomery there 
are but three centers of urban popula- 
tion, viz: Fort Plain-Nelliston, com- 
bined population 1910. 3,499; Canajo- 
harie-Palatine Bridge, 2,665; St. 
Johnsville, 2,536. The growth of St. 
Johnsville has been very considerable 
in the past decade and if continued it 
will become the largest population 
center in western Montgomery county 
before the passage of many years. 

Although a union of the villages of 
Fort Plain and Nelliston and of Cana- 
joharie and Palatine Bridge is not now 
contemplated, nor even desired by the 
inhabitants of the smaller places, it 
probably will eventually come to pass. 

The total population of the five west 
end villages in 1910 was 8,700. Outside 
of these incorporated places are proba- 
bly 1,000 people whose living is not de- 



284 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



rived from the land. This would give 
a farming population of 6,200 and a 
non-farming population of 9,700. Over 
half the agricultural population of 
Montgomery county is located in the 
western half, as the people engaged 
in the cultivation of the soil, in Mont- 
gomery county, probably do not ex- 
ceed 11,000 in number. The producing 
farm population of the five western 
towns of Minden, Canajoharie, Root, 
Palatine and St. Johnsville, is about 
half what it was in 1850, while the 
non-food-producing public has more 
than doubled. This condition, which 
is common to the entire country, is 
responsible for the high and increas- 
ing cost of food stuffs, and this cotfidi- 
tion will not be bettered except by a 
great increase in the number of food 
producers. 

The foregoing chapters of this work 
have detailed the history of western 
Montgomery and the Mohawk valley 
from the time of the earliest Dutch 



explorers and its Mohawk Iroquois in- 
habitants. We have seen the events 
of settlement by Dutch, British and 
Germans and how the location of 
Hendrick Frey in 1689 in Palatine was 
the first in the limits of old Tryon 
county and the first in the valley west 
of the Schenectady county line. In 
western Montgomery county was the 
forest home of Sir George Clarke, one 
of the British colonial governors. The 
stirring Revolutionary events of this 
section have been detailed and the 
great part its inhabitants played in 
the defense of this frontier. Later we 
have had the Mohawk river commerce 
described and that of the turnpikes 
and the building of the canal, railroad 
and Barge canal. The part the men 
of the middle Mohawk valley played in 
the wars of 1812 and 1861-5 has been 
told with much particularity. The fol- 
lowing will describe this section of re- 
cent years and at the present time 
(1913). 



CHAPTER XI. 

1825-1913 — Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty — The Town of St. Johnsviile and 
St. Johnsville Village. 

The town of St. Johnsville is the 
most westerly, with the town of Min- 
den, in Montgomery and is bounded on 
the north by Fulton county (town of 
Oppenheim and a small part of the 
town of Ephratah), on the east by Pal- 
atine, on the south by the Mohawk 
river and the town of Minden, and on 
the west by Herkimer county. Its sur- 
face consists of broad flats along the 
Mohawk, with broken uplands rising 
to the north to a height of over 1,000 
feet sea elevation and over 700 feet 
above the river. The principal streams, 
all of which flow in a southerly direc- 
tion and empty into the Mohawk, are 
East Canada, Crum, Fox, Zimmer- 
man, Timmerman and Mother creek. 
Mason's History (1892) says: East 
Canada creek is noted for a succession 
of falls and rapids, descending 75 feet 
in a distance of 80 rods, this being a 
mile from its mouth. The soil of the 



town is a fine quality of gravelly loain, 
and that portion lying near the river 
is adapted to grain and hay, while 
farther north the land is well suited to 
grazing. Discovery has been made of 
three distinct mineral veins, on or near 
East Canada creek, which are distin- 
guished as the lower, middle and up- 
per mines. The first mentioned con- 
sists largely of lead, With a trace of 
gold, the second is a mixture of cop- 
per, .lead and zinc, and the last men- 
tioned is mostly copper. [None of 
these have ev^er been really worked.] 

St. Johnsville was formed from the 
town of Oppenheim [now in Fulton 
county] at the time Montgomery coun- 
ty was divided [into Montgomery and 
Fulton counties], April 18, 1838. In 
area it is the smallest town in the 
county. A large portion of it was for- 
merly comprised in the Harrison pa- 
tent of 12,000 acres, dated Match 18, 
1722. The town is divided into four 
school districts. 

The town is supposed to have been 
settled at about 1725 or before. It was 
part of the Palatine district and its 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



285 



history is largely that of Palatine 
which was settled about 1712, by Pal- 
atine Germans. These with a few 
Dutch comprised the settlers prior to 
the Revolution. Mention has been 
made in the former chapter on wes- 
tern Montgomery county [1689-1825] 
of the settlements, industries and 
schools here prior to 1825. St. Johns- 
ville formed part of the town of Pala- 
tine from 1772 to 1808, when the town 
of Oppenheim, then in Montgomery 
county, was set off. In 1838 the town 
of St. Johnsville, Montgomery county, 
was formed as previously stated. The 
first town meeting of the new town 
was held May 1, 1838, at the house of 
Cristopher Klock, one mile east of the 
later village of St. Johnsville. The 
number of votes polled was 271. Dur- 
ing the civil war St. Johnsville fur- 
nished a large number of federal sol- 
diers, considering its small area. 

The village of St. Johnsville is sit- 
uated on Zimmermans creek about in 
the center of the town and dates its 
first settlement from 1775 when David 
and Conrad Zimmerman located there 
and built a grist mill on the stream. 
George Klock built a grist mill in 1801 
and David Quackenbush another in 
1804. In 1825 James Averill built here 
a stone grist mill and distillery. These 
buildings were twice destroyed by fire 
and as often rebuilt and eventually 
became a paper-mill, making straw 
board. St. Johnsville village was long 
known as "Timmerinan's," a name de- 
rived from its first settlers, the names 
Timmerman and Zimmerman being 
etiuivalent. 

The name of the village and town 
was taken from St. John's Reformed 
church, as mentioned in a foregoing 
chapter on the five Revolutionary 
churches of western Montgomery coun- 
ty, of which St. John's was one. This 
church was formed prior to 1756 and 
a church erected in 1770 below the 
village. In 1804 this was removed to 
its present location. In 1881 the pres- 
ent St. John's Reformed church of 
brick was erected. 

It has been stated that the name of 
the town and village was adopted in 
honor of Alexander St. John, who was 



a pioneer of what is now Northampton, 
Fulton county, and who was a well- 
known engineer and surveyor of his 
time. On April 4, 1811, the New York 
legislature passed an act authorizing 
John Mclntyre of Broadalbin, Alexan- 
der St. John of Northampton, and 
Wm. Newton of Mayfield, to lay out 
a new turnpike road "from the house 
of Henry Gross in Johnstown to the 
house of John C. Nellis, in the town 
of Oppenheim," terminating in the 
Mohawk turnpike near the present vil- 
lage of St. Johnsville. St. John did the 
surveying and largely superintended 
the construction of the turnpike. He 
was at "Timmerman's" a great part of 
the time and when a postofRce was es- 
tablished there it is said to have been 
named in his honor, St. Johnsville. It 
may be that the historic old Reformed 
church and the capable and popular 
surveyor both contributed to the adop- 
tion of the name, but the subject will 
probably continue to be a matter of 
dispute. 

The construction of the Erie canal 
in 1825 and the Utica and Schenectady 
railroad in 1836, boomed the little vil- 
lage and in 1857 the population had 
grown to 720. On Aug. 1, 1857, the 
place was incorporated. 

Besides St. John's Reformed church 
the following religious societies have 
been organized in the village: Grace 
Christian church, organized in 1874; 
Union church, erected in 1849 by Luth- 
erans and Methodists and a few other 
denominations no longer in exist- 
ence; Methodist Episcopal church, 
built in 1879; St. Patrick's Roman 
Catholic church, built 1889; Episcopal. 

The following newspapers have been 
published in St. Johnsville, with the 
dates of their establishment: Inter- 
ior New Yorker, 1875; Weekly Por- 
trait, St. Johnsville Times, St. Johns- 
ville Herald, St. Johnsville Herald- 
Times; St. Johnsvile Leader, 1886; St. 
Johnsville News, 1891; St. Johnsville 
Enterprise, 1897. 

The First National bank of St. 
Johnsville was organized in 1864 with 
a capital of .$50,000. The Board of- 
Trade of St. Johnsville was organized 
1S92. Exceptionali.N- good educational 



286 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



facilities are afforded by the St. Johns- 
ville High and Grammar school. 

St. Johnsville has a fine public li- 
brary housed in its own building. Like 
Fort Plain and Canajoharie, its sister 
villages, it has many social, fraternal, 
religious and patriotic societies. St, 
Johnsville Lodge, No. 611, F. and A. 
M., was organized in 1866. 

The manufactures of the village are 
(1913) player pianos and piano actions 
(manufacture began 1889), agricultural 
implements, condensed milk, carriage 
hardware, knit goods, carriages, 
wagons, sleighs, paper, straw board, 
sash and blinds, cigars, iron castings. 
The manufacture of knit goods began 
in 1892. 

The following is from the Industrial 
Directory of 1912, issued by the New 
York State Department of Labor: 

St. Johnsville (Montgomery county), 
incorporated as a village in 1857; esti- 
mated population in 1913, 2,735. St. 
Johnsville is situated in the valley of 
the Mohawk river on the New York 
Central railroad [the station of South 
St. Johnsville is on the south side of 
the Mohawk on the West Shore rail- 
road and the Erie canal]. The princi- 
pal manufactures are knit goods and 
pianos [player pianos and piano ac- 
tions]. The village is the trading and 
shipping center for a rich dairy farm- 
ing section. There is building sand in 
St. Johnsville. The village has sewers, 
electric lighting service and municipal 
water works. 

With 990 operatives in an estimated 
(1913) population of 2,735, St. Johns- 
ville is an unusual valley industrial 
center, on account of the large pro- 
portion of manufacturing employes to 
the total population — over one-third. 
It is the leading industrial town of 
western Montgomery county. Its fac- 
tories (1914) generally employ electric 
power derived from the power stations 
at East Creek and Inghams Mills. See 
the chapter on Western Montgomery 
county hydro-electric development, in 
which its relation to the manufactories 
of St. Johnsville is detailed by William 
Irving Walter, the well-known writer 
on historical and general subjects, of 
St. Johnsville. 

The growth of St. Johnsville, due to 
its flourishing industries, has been 
very rapid since 1890 and the village 
has all improvements such as sewers, 



electric lights and water supply. It 
boasts the first modern opera house 
built in western Montgomery county. 
The Mohawk turnpike is excellently 
paved through the village with brick 
and a variety of experimental road 
building materials further west. The 
only hamlet in the town is that of 
Upper St. Johnsville, about one and a 
half miles west of the village proper, 
of which it will doubtless eventually 
form a part. 

.The population of St. Johnsville 
townsh-p was in 1850, 1,627; 1880, 
2 002; 1910, 3,369. 

The population of St. Johnsville vil- 
lage was 720 in 1857, 1,376 in 1870, 1,072 
in 1880, 1,263 in 1890, 1,873 in 1900 and 
2,536 in 1910. 



CHAPTER XII. 

1825-1913 — Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty — The Town of Palatine. 

Says Mason's History (1892): The 
present town of Palatine lies north of 
the Mohawk, and directly east of St. 
Johnsville. It is bounded on the north 
by Fulton county [town of Ephratah] 
and on the east by the town of Mo- 
hawk [and on the south by the Mo- 
hawk river and the towns of Minden, 
Canajoharie and part of Root]. The 
surface of the town is mostly an up- 
land [200 to 700 feet above the valley], 
broken by deep, narrow ravines and 
descending irregularly toward the 
river. Garoga [or Caroga] creek, a 
beautiful mill stream, which rises in 
the Garoga lake [and Peck's Pond] 
flows in a southwesterly direction 
through the western part of the town 
and empties into the Mohawk at Pala- 
tine Church. Mill creek, a tributary of 
the Garoga; Smith creek, at the Smith 
farm; Nelliston creek, at Nelliston; 
Flat creek, on the Gros farm; Salts- 
man creek, below Palatine Bridge; the 
Kanagara, emptying into the Mohawk 
a short distance below Sprakers [at 
the County Home], are the principal 
water courses of the town. The soil 
consists in a great measure of dark, 
clayey loam, containing more or less 
gravel, and is highly fertile when prop- 
erly cultivated. It is especially adapt- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



287 



ed to grazing and, in the manufacture 
of cheese, Palatine is one of the lead- 
ing dairy townships. 

The story of the town of Palatine 
has been brought in previous chapters 
down to 1825. It is exclusively an ag- 
ricultural town, its two villages of 
Nelliston and Palatine Bridge, being 
in reality residence sections respec- 
tively of Fort Plain and Canajoharie, 
without industries of any size. The 
Palatine district, on the formation of 
Tryon county in 1772, was called the 
"Stone Arabia district." On March 8, 
1773, the name was changed to "Pala- 
tine district." Salisbury, Herkimer 
county, was the first town set off from 
Palatine in 1797. Stratford (Fulton 
county) was formed from it in 1805; 
Oppenheim (embracing also the pres- 
ent town of St. Johnsville) in 1808; 
Ephratah in 1827, but a portion of the 
latter was re-annexed upon the di- 
vision of the county in 1838. 

"The territory of Palatine," says 
Mason's History, "originally comprised 
three historic land grants, the first be- 
ing the Van Slyck patent of 6,000 
acres, granted 1716. It lay along the 
north bank of the Mohawk, extending 
west from the Nose and a mile or more 
above Palatine Bridge, also including 
the 'Frey place.' Next was the Har- 
rison patent, containing 12,000 acres, 
and including nearly all of what is now 
St. Johnsville. This was bought from 
the Indians in 1722 by Francis Harri- 
son and others. The third was the 
Stone Arabia patent of 1723, compris- 
ing 12,700 acres, and granted mostly to 
27 Palatines and Hendrick Frey, who 
were already settled on the land." The 
oldest structure in Palatine is Fort 
Frey, a stone house built in 1739, and 
located in the present village of Pala- 
tine Bridge. 

Mention has been made of the three 
Revolutionary churches of Palatine, 
the Reformed church of Stone Arabia 
and the Lutheran churches of Stone 
Arabia and Palatine Church. Aside 
from these is Salem Church of the 
Evangelical Association of America, 
later called "the German church," first 
organized in 1835 and incorporated in 
1877, the present edifice being erected 



in 1871, and the Methodist church of 
Nelliston, built about 1890. 

Palatine is divided into eleven school 
districts. It comprises, besides the in- 
corporated villages of Nelliston and 
Palatine Bridge, the hamlets of Pala- 
tine Church, Wagners Hollow, Stone 
Arabia and McKinley (formerly Os- 
wegatchie). The villages of Nelliston 
and Palatine Bridge are advantage- 
ously located. They have residential, 
educational and social advantages 
which should ensure a future consid- 
erable growth. Both have factory and 
home sites in abundance. Palatine 
Bridge is (1914) putting in a village 
sewage system. 

The population of Palatine was 2,856 
in 1850, 2,786 in 1880, 2,517 in 1910. 

The population of Palatine Bridge 
was 493 in 1870, 332 in 1880, 392 in 1910. 

The population of Nelliston was 558 
in 1880, 737 in 1910. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
1825-1913 — Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty — The Tovyn of Root. 

Mason's History (1892) says: "Root 
is the central town of the county on 
the south of the Mohawk. It is bound- 
ed on the east by Glen and Charleston; 
on the south by Schoharie county and 
on the west by Canajoharie. The sur- 
face of this town presents a variety 
of natural features surpassing in ex- 
tent and grandeur any other portion 
of the county, in fact it is doubtful if 
any other equal area in the Mohawk 
valley contains so many interesting 
works of nature. The geologist and 
naturalist here find subjects for 
thought and discussion, while the ad- 
mirer of beautiful scenery is charmed 
with the prospect from the heights in 
the northern and central portions of 
the town. The majestic hills, that rise 
abruptly from the Mohawk to a height 
of 630 feet, form the northern crest of 
an undulating upland, the soil of which 
varies from a dark colored loam and 
clay bottom, near the eastern border, 
to a gravelly loam in the center, and 
more or less clay and light soil in the 
western portion of the town. A fine 
quality of building stone crops out on 



288 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



some of these summits, but, owing to 
the steep hills and heavy grades, these 
quarries have seldom been worked. An 
abundance of black slate is found near 
the center of the town. Agriculture is 
the principal interest and, although 
hay is the chief crop, oats, barley, corn 
and buckwheat are raised in abund- 
ance. In the vicinity of Currytown, 
hops are grown with much success. 
The adaptability of the soil to grazing 
was recognized by the farmers at an 
early day, and thus we find extensive 
dairies and cheese factories scattered 
throughout the town." 

The two principal streams in Root 
are Yatesville and Flat creeks. The 
former [Yatesville] enters the town on 
its eastern border from Charleston 
and flows in a northerly direction, 
emptying into the Mohawk at Randall, 
formerly Yatesville. This stream was 
called by the Indians Wasontha. A 
beautiful cascade is to be seen about 
one mile north of Rural Grove, where 
this stream falls twenty or twenty-flve 
feet, affording a scene of picturesque 
attraction. Flat Creek, which takes 
its name from the shallowness of a 
portion of its stream, enters the ex- 
treme southern part of the town and 
flows in an irregular northerly direc- 
tion, making a circuitous detour into 
Canajoharie and emptying into the 
Mohawk at Sprakers. A large portion 
of the course of this stream is com- 
posed of natural features differing 
from those to which it owes its name. 
For a number of miles it flows through 
an inclining stratum of gravel and 
slate, its banks forming steep and 
rugged ravines, and at a point a mile 
above Sprakers there is a fall of sixty- 
five feet. At several points along its 
course, prospecting parties have suc- 
cessfully brought to the surface min- 
eral ore containing fifty per cent of 
lead and fifteen per cent of silver, as 
shown by the assay of the state geol- 
ogist, and this led to the formation of 
the Canajoharie Mining Co. [but the 
veins have never been worked]. Be- 
sides these there are two other small 
streams in the town of Root — Big Nose 
creek, just east of the Big Nose, and 
Allston creek in the eastern part of the 



town, emptying into the Mohawk in 
the town of Glen. 

Facing the river, on the northern 
border of Root, about two miles east 
of Sprakers, is a bold promontory, 
which is mentioned in connection with 
a similar spur on the opposite or north 
side of the Mohawk as "the Noses." 
These lower uplifts of the Mohawk 
have been noted at length in connec- 
tion with the history and geography of 
the Mohawk valley and of the geology 
of the middle Mohawk valley. The 
scenery and landscape on and about 
the Noses and their aspect from the 
river and the broad flatlands above and 
below them, constitutes one of the 
most picturesque features of the Mo- 
hawk valley. The editor of this work 
would suggest "the Noses" and their 
adjoining country and the Canajoharie 
falls as the two most attractive land- 
scape items in western Montgomery 
county. The southern nose is known 
as "the Big Nose." On it is located 
Mitchell's cave, a seeming fault in the 
rock, enlarged by water action and 
which has been descended to its bot- 
tom for several hundred feet. It drops 
at a sharp angle toward the Mohawk 
river. Its exploration is attended with 
considerable danger and should only be 
undertaken by a party of men with 
ropes, lanterns, etc. There is a simi- 
lar hole north of Little Falls known as 
Hinman's Hole. The Big Nose has also 
Ijeen called "Anthony's Nose." 

Root is the largest town of Mont- 
gomery county. The eastern half was 
formerly in the Mohawk district of 
Tryon county while the half west of 
the Big Nose was in the Canajoharie 
district. It was formed from Canajo- 
harie and. Charleston in 1823 and 
named in honor of Erastus Root of 
Delaware county, a political leader of 
that time. Its territory embraces parts 
of nine different land grants as fol- 
lows: Burnet patent, 1726, 775 acres, 
in Randall village; Provost patent, 
1726, 8,000 acres, lying west of Randall; 
Roseboom patent, 1726, 1,500 acres, in- 
cluding the hill known as "Anthony's 
Nose" and extending southeast within 
a mile of Currytown; Kennedy patent, 
775 acres, granted 1727, and including 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



289 



stone Ridge; Bagley and Williams 
patent, 4,000 acres, granted 1837, in 
the south part of Root, extending into 
southeastern Canajoharie; Corry's pat- 
ent, 25,400 acres, granted 1737, em- 
bracing parts of Charleston, Glen and 
Root; Winne's patent, 4 000 acres, in- 
cluding Flat Creek village, granted 
1741; Gros patent (title secured by 
John Daniel Gros, pastor of the Cana- 
joharie Reformed Dutch church at Fort 
Plain) embracing parts of Root and 
Canajoharie, title granted 1786. 

The first permanent white settler 
known who located in Root was Jacob 
Dievendorf, who settled at Currytown. 
The first town meeting and election of 
officers was held shortly after the or- 
ganization of the town in January, 
1823. In 1825 the population of the 
town was 2,806. In 1910 it was 1,512. 
The first schools in Root were German 
schools but the first school of which 
we have any record was an English 
school taught by one Glaycher near 
the Noses in 1784. There are now 
fourteen school districts in Root. 

Rural Grove is the largest and most 
important center in Root, and is locat- 
ed on Yatesville creek, about five miles 
south of the Mohawk. It is said to 
date its settlement from 1828, when 
Abram H. Vanderveer and Henry 
Stowitts erected a dwelling and large 
tannery on the site of the residence of 
the late John Bowdish. The cluster 
of houses which grew up around the 
tannery was named Unionville by 
Stowitts and later was called Leather- 
ville. The present name of Rural 
Grove was suggested by a beautiful 
grove of elms on the west border of 
the little village and residents began 
using this name in 1850 and it was 
adopted by the postofRce department 
in 1872. The Currytown postofflce was 
removed to Rural Grove in 1832. The 
place has about 250 population, stores 
and a grist mill and cheese factory. 
The Rural Grove Methodist church 
was built in 1845, but a Methodist so- 
ciety had existed long before that date. 
The Christian church was organized 
in 1854 and a church built which was 
enlarged in 1874. 

Sprakers is an attractive hamlet on 



the Mohawk at the mouth of Flat 
creek and on the south side of the Erie 
canal. It is a station on the West 
Shore road and connected by ferry 
with the Central railroad station of 
Sprakers opposite on the north shore. It 
was named for Jost Spraker, a pioneer 
of the well known valley family of that 
name. George Spraker, son of Jost 
Spraker, built a tavern here which was 
kept for years, until it burned down. 
Daniel Spraker built the first store in 
1822 and until the canal was completed 
was engaged in the business of trans- 
ferring freight between the unfinished 
sections. Another store was started 
by Joseph Spencer, who sold out to 
John L. Bevins, who built the fine 
stone store still standing and occupied 
as a place of business, on the south 
bank of the canal, by S. W. and Oscar 
Cohen (1913). Sprakers was for a long 
time a supply place for the canal 
trade. A postoffice was established 
here early in the nineteenth century. 
The Reformed church of Sprakers was 
erected in 1858 on the site of a much 
older church building. Sprakers has a 
hotel, creamery and several stores 
and a population of about 200. 

Currytown is the oldest settlement 
in the town of Root, and here a store 
was established about 1800 by John 
McKernan, who subsequently built a 
bridge across the Mohawk at Randall 
which was carried away by high water 
in 1820 or shortly after. At Curry- 
town was established the first postof- 
fice in the town of Root, the mail be- 
ing brought by a post-rider. This was 
removed to Rural Grove in 1832 but 
one was again established in the latter 
part of the nineteenth century. Curry- 
town is today a strictly residential 
liamlet of prosperous farmers. The 
Reformed church of Currytown is the 
oldest religious organization in Root, 
having been organized in 1790 and a 
church built in 1809. It was remodeled 
in 1849 and was rebuilt in 1883. 

Randall is a postoflice and village in 
the northeastern part of the town, on 
the Erie canal, West Shore railroad 
and Mohawk river and at the mouth of 
Yatesville creek. It was originally 
called Yatesville, which name was 



290 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



changed to Randall when the postof- 
fice was established in 1863. A Chris- 
tian church was formed about 1850 at 
Randall and a church was built in 
1885.. The bridge connecting Randall 
and Yosts on the north shore was 
swept away, as mentioned previously, 
in 1820, shortly after its erection. Pop- 
ulation about 150. 

Flat Creek is located on the stream 
of that name four miles south of the 
Mohawk. Considerable business was 
transacted here at one time and then 
the place had two hotels or taverns. 
A postoffice was established here in 
the latter part of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. A cheese factory and saw and 
feed mill are here located. A Baptist 
church was built in 1860, but later the 
society disbanded. The True Dutch 
Reformed church of Flat Creek was 
built in 1885. 

Bundy's Corners, Lyker's Corners 
and Brown's Hollow are the names of 
hamlets of Root consisting each of a 
few houses. At Brown's Hollow, 
Henry Lyker erected a grist mill at an 
early day, which later was bought by 
John Brown, who increased the water 
power by tunneling 1,000 feet through 
the hill. The mill was burned but sub- 
sequently rebuilt. A distillery, linseed 
oil mill, carding machine and fulling 
mill were at one time in operation at 
Brown's Hollow l)ut have discontinued 
operation. 

Population Root township: 1850, 
2,736; 1880, 2,275; 1910, 1,512. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

1825-1913 — Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty — The Town of Canajoharie and 
Canajoharie Village. 

The town of Canajoharie lies on the 
south side of the Mohawk. It is 
bounded on the north by the river and 
the town of Palatine; on the east by 
the town of Root; on the south by 
Schoharie county and on the west by 
Minden. Its surface consists of undu- 
lating uplands rising from the Mohawk 
to heights of almost 1,000 feet in the 
southern part of the town. Its terri- 
tory lies almost entirely in the water- 
shed of Canajoharie creek, which en- 



ters the southwestern part of the town 
and flows almost directly east to the 
little hamlet of Waterville, when it 
turns north and flows in a zig-zag 
course to its outlet into the Mohawk 
at Canajoharie village. About one 
and a half miles from its mouth occur 
the picturesque Canajoharie falls, with 
a perpendicular drop of about forty 
feet to the deep pool at its base. Here 
begins the Canajoharie gorge of slate 
and stone walls, over a hundred feet in 
height in places, hemming in the 
stream on both sides and forming a 
miniature canyon of great beauty 
about three-quarters of a mile or more 
in length. It ends at the southwestern 
outskirts of Canajoharie village, about 
three-quarters of a mile from the 
junction of the creek with the Mohawk 
river. At the end of the gorge is lo- 
cated the original "Canajoharie" or 
"pot which washes itself." This is a 
hole in the solid rock of the creek bed 
about twenty feet wide and ten feet 
or more in depth although the depth is 
probably much greater in the rock. 
This is a gigantic pot hole, probably 
worn by the action of small stones at 
some time when the course of the 
stream facilitated their grinding ac- 
tion. Happy Hollow Brook, about one 
mile north of Canajoharie village, is 
the only other stream outside of a few 
rivulets, in the township. 

The soil of the town is a gravelly 
loam, derived from the disintegration 
of the underlying slate, in some places 
intermixed with clay. It is easily and 
profitably cultivated and Canajoharie 
has been noted, from its earliest settle- 
ment, for its rich and valuable farms. 
When the first German and Dutch set- 
tlers of the town of Canajoharie came 
here about 1720 they found the Mo- 
hawks cultivating the flatlands, par- 
ticular the island located in the 
river just below Fort Plain and the 
island a mile and a half below the 
creek. Here corn, beans, squashes 
and tobacco were growing. 

Canajoharie is the remaining por- 
tion of the old Tryon county district of 
that name, designated at the time of 
the setting off of Tryon county March 
24, 1772. Cherry Valley town was 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



291 



formed from it in 1791; Minden in 
1798; a part of Root in 1823; and a 
part (the Freysbush district) was 
taken from it and added to Minden in 
1849. 

The prinicpal land grants in the 
present town of Canajoharie were the 
Canajoharie tract of 12,450 acres dated 
1723; the Bradt patent of 3,200 acres 
granted in 1733; Bagley's patent of 
4,000 acres in 1737; two Golden pat- 
ents and the Cosby, Dick, Lyne and 
Morris patents of 2,000 acres each. 

The following relates to the centers 
of population in Canajoharie township: 

The history of Canajoharie village 
from about 1777 to 1825 is contained 
in the first chapter dealing with west- 
ern Montgomery county. The village 
was incorporated April 30, 1829, and 
since that time it has had a slow but 
sure growth and has never gone back 
in population. It suffered extensive 
losses by severe fires in 1840, 1849 and 
1877, in each instance a large part of 
the business section being burned. The 
construction of the West Shore rail- 
road in 1883 somewhat injured the 
lower and business part of the town. 
The Canajoharie Local train runs 
west to Syracuse and return over the 
West Shore railroad. 

The old stone school, known as dis- 
trict No. 8, was built in 1850. In 1893 
the present fine stone school house 
was built, housing grammar, high 
school and training school depart- 
ments. It is one of the finest exam- 
ples of school architecture in the 
county and a leading feature of those 
substantial stone structures which 
make Canajoharie such a well-built, 
solid and substantial looking town. 

The Canajoharie Water Works Co. 
was organized in 1852 and the village 
supplied by water taken from springs 
by gravity, to which were later added 
rams for fire purposes. In 1876 this 
system was extended and the supply 
was added to from larger springs. In 
1881 the Cold Spring Water Co., a 
competing corporation, put in new 
works. In 1888 the older company 
sold out and in 1889 the Canajoharie 
Consolidated Water Co. was organized, 
receiving the property and franchises 



of both companies. The catch basin 
was located on Canajoharie creek, 
three-fourths of a mile from the vil- 
lage center, the pond one-half mile 
and the reservoir one-quarter mile. 
The present village water supply sys- 
tem was inaugurated in 1912. 

A union church was erected in 1818 
and the Erie canal was built so close 
to it as to seriously interfere with 
services here. The Reformed church 
of Canajoharie (village) was organ- 
ized in 1827 and a stone church was 
erected in 1842, which later was occu- 
pied by the Methodist society when 
the present handsome stone church 
was built in the latter part of the nine- 
teenth century. St. Mark's Lutheran 
church was formed in 1839 and soon 
purchased the old Union church near 
the canal. The present attractive vine- 
covered church was built in 1870. St. 
John's German Evangelical Lutheran 
church was organized in 1835. The 
present stone church dates from 1871. 
In 1852 the Church of the Good Shep- 
herd, Protestant Episcopal, was form- 
ed. Its present handsome stone church 
was erected in 1873. The Methodist 
Episcopal church socety had its birth 
on the opposite side of the river in 
Palatine where it built a church in 
1828. It occupied the first Reformed 
church in 1841. In 1863 it was rebuilt 
and enlarged. St. Peter and St. Paul's 
Roman Catholic church was built in 
1862. 

The village has the beautifully situ- 
ated Canajoharie Falls cemetery and 
a public library. 

Hamilton lodge. No. 79, F. and A. M., 
received its charter in 1806, being at 
that time number ten in the list of 
state lodges. The first master was Dr. 
Joshua Webster. A number of other 
fraternal and social organizations are 
located in town. Among these is the 
Fort Rensselaer club, located in the 
old stone Van Alstine house (built 
1750). At the public square is the 
monument commemorating Gen. Clin- 
ton's army's presence at Canajoharie 
in 1779, placed there by the local D. 
A. R. 

Canajoharie's first newspaper was 
the Telegraph, started in 1825. Other 



292 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



papers have been: Canajoharie Sen- 
tinel, 1827; Canajoharie Republican. 
1827; Montgomery Argus, 1831; Cana- 
joharie Investigator, 1833; Canajoharie 
Radii, 1837; Mohawk Valley Gazette, 
1847; Montgomery Union, 1850; Cana- 
joharie Courier, 1879; Hay Trade 
Journal, 1892. The Radii, Courier and 
Hay Trade Journal are prosperous 
papers today. 

The National Spraker bank was es- 
tablished as the Spraker bank in 1853. 
It was reorganized and incorporated 
under the national banking act of 
1865. Its capital is $100,000. The Can- 
ajoharie National bank was. first or- 
ganized as a state bank in 1855 and 
became a national bank in 1865, with 
a capital of $100,000, which has been 
increased to $125,000. 

The manufacture of and printing of 
paper and cotton sacks and bags was 
started in 1859 and the firm (Arkell & 
Smiths) is today one of Canajoharie's 
leading industries. The output is 
many millions of sacks annually and 
126 hands were employed in 1912. 

The manufacture of food-stuffs by 
the Beech-Nut Packing Co. began, 
about 1890. The firm was then known 
as the Imperial Packing Co. and start- 
ed business curing "Beech-Nut" hams 
and bacon. This has developed into 
one of the model pure food factories 
of the world, with an enormous and 
constantly increasing output. The 
employes are generally natives of Can- 
ajoharie and the industry is one in 
which Canajoharie justly takes the 
greatest pride. Its perfect T^actories 
are in sight from the Central railroad 
and Canajoharie has justly been term- 
ed "Beech-Nut Town." The output of 
this concern averages $3,000,000 yearly 
and 380 hands were employed in 1912. 

Aside from these two leading indus- 
tries there were 7 small factories in 
1912 employing 23 hands. The total 
number of operatives in Canajoharie's 
manufactories in 1912 was 529. Pala- 
tine Bridge has one factory with 9 
employes, so that there are 538 people 
employed in manufacturing in Cana- 
joharie-Palatine Bridge. 

Canajoharie village consists of a 
lower portion on the flats from which 



streets rise to hills of a consider- 
able height, affording fine \alley views. 
On the Seeber Lane road, a mile north- 
west from the town, is a U. S. Gov- 
ernment geodetic survey "station, at a 
sea elevation of 800 feet, or 500 feet 
above the Mohawk. From here may be 
obtained a fine panoramic valley view 
to the southeast, as well as one of the 
Cherry Valley hills to the west. 

Canajoharie is a center of a steady 
trade with the farming country around 
about it including much of Montgom- 
ery and Schoharie county to the south 
and southwest of it. Together with 
Palatine Bridge, its sister village di- 
rectly across on the north bank of the 
Mohawk, it forms an ideal residence 
community with all the features of 
trade, social, educational, industrial 
and agricultural life which go to make 
up a progressive twentieth century 
American village. It may justly be 
said that all these qualities are shared 
by the three sister villages of western 
Montgomery county — Canajoharie, 
Fort Plain and St. Johnsville, all of 
similar character, size and population. 
They all should experience a growth 
of population, industries, wealth and 
business and an educational and social 
development. Their situation and the 
sterling character of their inhabitants 
ensures these things for the future. 

The 1912 Industrial Directory of the 
New York State Department of Labor 
contains the following regarding Cana- 
joharie: 

Canajoharie (Montgomery county), 
incorporated a village in 1829; esti- 
mated population in 1913, 2,325. Cana- 
joharie is situated in the valley of the 
Mohawk river on the Erie canal and 
the West Shore railroad. The village 
of Palatine Bridge, on the New York 
Central railroad, is industrially and 
commercially an integral part of Can- 
ajoharie, a bridge over the Barge 
canal, which here follows the course of 
the Mohawk river, connects the vil- 
lages. The princiijal industries are the 
manufacture of paper and cotton bags 
and the packing of food products. 
Canajoharie is surrounded by a rich 
farming section devoted to general ag- 
riculture [dairying and hay raising in 
particular]. 

Population of Canajoharie village, 
1870, 1,822; 1890, 2,089; 1910, 2.273. 
1910, Canajoharie - Palatine Bridge, 
2,665. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



293 



Population Canajoharie township: 
1850, 4,097; 1880, 4,294; 1910, 3,889. 

The village life of these three west- 
ern Montgomery county centers, dur- 
ing the past century, is described in 
the chapter devoted to Minden town- 
ship and Fort Plain, the central one 
of the three villages. 

IJuel is a hamlet in the southern part 
of the town of Canajoharie, the first 
settlement here having been made by 
John Bowman about 1760. He pur- 
chased a large tract of land near the 
headwaters of Canajoharie creek and, 
for over half a century thereafter 
(and during the Revolution), the 
stream, the settlement of Buel and a 
large part of the southern part of Can- 
ajoharie township were all known as 
"Bowman's Creek." In 1830 a postof- 
fice was established at Buel. In 1823 
the Central Asylum for the instruction 
of the deaf and dumb was established 
at Buel. In 1836 it was united with a 
similar institution in New York city. 
Buel took its name from Jesse Buel, at 
one time prominent in state agricul- 
tural circles. 

Sprout Brook is a small hamlet and 
postofhce on the Canajoharie creek in 
the extreme southwestern part of the 
town. The history of its settlement is 
largely that of Buel and the Bowman's 
Creek section. 

Ames, in the Canajoharie valley, two 
miles east of Buel, was named in 
honor of Fisher Ames. It is said that 
the first settler near here was named 
Taylor. In 1796, the Free Will Bap- 
tist church of Ames was located here, 
it having been organized, in 1794, a 
few miles to the west. Most of the 
early settlers of Ames were New Eng- 
landers, instead of being Germans as 
in most of the neighboring settlements, 
particularly in the immediate vicinity 
of the Mohawk river. Its population 
is estimated at about 200. 

The early history of Mapletown has 
been mentioned in a previous chapter. 
It takes its naniQ from the numerous 
sugar maples left standing ])y the pio- 
neers. It is on the old Indian trail 
from Canajoharie to New Dorlach and 
about four miles from Canajoharie 
Early in the nineteenth century a small 



Dutch Reformed church was built 
here. 

The little hamlet of Marshville is on 
the Canajoharie creek near the center 
of the town. Here in early days was 
a large saw mill owned by one of the 
Seeber family. How the place receiv- 
ed the nickname of "Muttonville" is 
told in the first chapter on western 
Montgomery county. Population of 
Marshville, about 100. 

Van Deusenville lies near Sprout 
Brook and Waterville, another little 
hamlet between Ames and Mapletown. 

The first school within present Can- 
ajoharie town was in Seebers Lane, on 
the north line of the Goertner farm, a 
mile and a half southwest of Canajo- 
harie village. When the common 
school system was adopted this be- 
came district- No. 1 of Canajoharie. 
The town is divided (1913) into four- 
teen school districts. 



CHAPTER XV. 
1825-1913— Western Montgomery Coun- 
ty — Fort Plain Village and Minden 
Township. 

The history of the town of Minden, 
from the time of the construction of 
the Erie canal to the date of the com- 
Ijiling of these articles, is largely its 
development in relation to agriculture 
and the part its men played in the 
great war of the rebellion. 

The story of the village of Fort 
Plain, for a similar period, is typical 
of the development of Mohawk valley 
towns during the nineteenth century. 
It has also been the growth of the 
canal and market town of 1830 into 
the manufacturing village and farming 
community center of the twentieth 
century. At the completion of the 
great Barge canal work, it will un- 
doubtedly regain its place as an "in- 
land port," which it held before the de- 
cline of traffic on the Erie canal, due 
to railroad competition. Fort Plain 
was incorporated as a village in 1832. 
Like Canajoharie, Fort Plain is a 
"canal town" — that is, its early growth 
was largely the result of the great 
impetus to trade and commerce in 
the valley due to the construction of 



294 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the Erie canal. The founding and de- 
velopment of industries, except on a 
small scale, came later. Through all 
the changes of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, it has remained a trading center 
for an important agricultural and 
dairying section. Situated at the 
mouth of the Otsquago valley and 
practically (by road) at the outlet of 
the Caroga valley, it has formed a cen- 
ter of trade for those two extensive 
natural thoroughfares and their ad- 
jacent country. With the present 
rapid improvement of the highways, its 
advantageous location will continue to 
be of marked aid to the trade center- 
ing about the town, and its projected 
Barge canal terminal will give it a 
position of prominence in the traffic of 
that great waterway. The Caroga 
valley road, a mile and a half north of 
Nelliston, leads north up the Caroga 
valley into the lakeland of northern 
Fulton county. The Otsquago valley 
roads, south into the Susquehanna val- 
ley, lead to Richfield Springs, Spring- 
field Centre, Cooperstown, Cherry Val- 
ley and other points. 

Fort Plain originally was a hamlet 
of a few houses, a hotel, store and 
mill, which grew up at the foot of 
Prospect Hill and along the south 
shore turnpike (now W'illett street) 
and the Otsquago creek, which then 
ran along the flats to the foot of Fort 
Hill (or the eminence on which the 
fortification of Fort Plain stood), a 
half mile north of the business center 
of present Fort Plain. As we have 
seen, during the building of the Erie, 
the business concerns at Sand Hill, on 
the northern end of the present village, 
moved to the present lousiness site. 
Fort Plain, as a hamlet, dates from 
about the liuilding of the Canajoharie 
Reformed Dutch church on Sand Hill 
in 1750, when the nucleus of a little 
settlement was established here at the 
river ferry and the beginning of the 
Dutchtown road. P.oth Sand Hill and 
the Prospect Hill hamlets formed parts 
of the present Fort Plain village lim- 
its — about a square mile of territory. 

Fort Plain and Nelliston form what 
is virtually one town as before stated. 
They are separated by the Mohawk 



river, Nelliston being on the north 
shore and Fort Plain on the south. 
Nelliston dates its growth from about 
1850. The original river bridge con- 
necting the present villages was built 
in 1829. The first Mohawk river bridge 
at Fort Plain was built across the 
Island in 1806. Nelliston is a beautiful 
residential section and is more adapted 
to the site of future residential growth 
of the two villages than Fort Plain it- 
self. For articles relative to Fort 
Plain in connection with the building 
of bridges, highways, canals and rail- 
roads, turn to the separate chapters 
on these subjects. 

Fort Plain lies partly on the flats 
and partly on the high ground rising 
to Prospect Hill on the east and to 
Institute and Cemetery Hill and Fort 
Hill on the west and north. It also ex- 
tends up the Otsquago valley nearly a 
mile. Nelliston lies on a tableland on 
a small hill rising directly from the 
river. 

Trade and business houses rapidly 
sprang up in Fort Plain, both before 
and immediately after the Erie was 
completed in 1825, and for a number of 
years it shared in the commerce of 
what was then a great water route of 
passenger and freight traffic. For years 
the Fort Plain canal docks were lively 
and busy places and continued as such 
up to about 1880, when the competi- 
tion of the railroads began to be ser- 
iously felt. Since about that time the 
canal traffic has been rapidly falling 
off until now it is but a small fraction 
of its former volume and the same 
docks are practically deserted by canal 
men. Reference should be made to 
the chapter on the Erie canal for an 
idea of this phase of life in Fort Plain 
in the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 

At this period and until the time 
railroads entered the country to the 
south of us. Fort Plain as a market 
and canal town and later a railroad 
town as well, drew a great amount of 
trade to itself from "what is now Ot- 
sego county. Teams loaded with mer- 
chandise arrived from and departed 
for towns and settlements as far south 
as Oneonta and even beyond. Its po- 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



295 



sition at the outlet of this country, by 
way of the Otsquago valley, gave it a 
lively trade and these facts and its 
place as a station on the canal and 
railroad contributed to build up a solid 
business section much larger and more 
important than in most towns of its 
size. Indeed, in the days when the village 
only had half its present (1913) popu- 
lation, the business section was prac- 
tically of its present area and import- 
ance. A man who lived in Minden in 
the 40s, made Fort Plain a visit in 
1911 and to a query, by the writer, as 
to how the town looked to him, in 
comparison with the Fort Plain of his 
boyhood, he replied: "Oh, about the 
same." This is true of the business 
section but the manufacturing and 
residential portions have enlarged and 
changed to a marked extent from the 
town of the quoted man's j^outhful 
days. The size of stocks, completeness 
and enterprise of the stores of Fort 
Plain have been a matter of valley 
knowledge and local pride for almost a 
century. 

Some of Fort Plain's merchants of 
the early and middle nineteenth cen- 
tury did an enormous business, con- 
sidering the size of the village. Stocks 
were then carried which made Fort 
Plain the best shopping center be- 
tween Schenectady and Utica. It was 
in those days that Fort Plain's business 
center was developed, a business sec- 
tion which presents a more metropoli- 
tan and citylike appearance than any 
town between Schenectady and Utica, 
not excepting Little Falls and Am- 
sterdam, which are many times the 
size of Fort Plain. We talk of modern 
business methods but they are no- 
wise superior to those of the early 
nineteenth century merchants. 

From the beginning Fort Plain was 
an important market town. Manufac- 
turing on any scale did not appear 
until the establishment of the Fort 
Plain Spring and Axle Works in 1870. 
These are said to have been the larg- 
est works of their kind in the country 
and are mentioned later. With the 
decline of agriculture hereabouts its 
importance as a market center dimin- 
ished and its country trade was split 



up somewhat with other towns. The 
building of railroads in the Susque- 
hanna valley attracted to southern 
railroad centers the trade which 
largely came north through the Ots- 
quago valley to Fort Plain, as its nat- 
ural outlet, prior to 1870. 

The Utica and Schenectady railroad 
was completed in 1836 and the growing 
town of Fort Plain became a lively 
place on the new road. The original 
small station was later used as a hay 
barn and stood just to the south of the 
river bridge, on the Nelliston side, un- 
til about 1890. August 1, 1836, the day 
of the opening of the road, was a great 
event for Fort Plain as well as the rest 
of the Mohawk valley towns and 
crowds gathered to watch the first 
train pass. The new Central station 
and grounds is one of the model ones 
along the line and was built of stone in 
1902. 

The first newspaper in Fort Plain 
was the Fort Plain Watch Tower, 
established in 1827 or 1828. After 
many changes this became the Mohawk 
Valley Register in 1854. The Fort 
Plain Standard was established in 
1876 and the Fort Plain Free Press in 
1883. Other publications have been 
issued from time to time, the village 
at one time having a little-needed 
daily paper. The Clionian Argus, later 
the Clionian, was a monthly publica- 
tion issued for over fifteen years (1883- 
1890) by one of the literary societies of 
Clinton Liberal Institute. The Regis- 
ter is (1913) Montgomery county's old- 
est newspaper. 

As has been stated, from the canal 
completion in 1825 until the Civil war 
period is the Fort Plain era of the de- 
velopment of business and transporta- 
tion. This time was one of building 
and general village growth. Many 
large and imposing brick dwellings 
were erected, which today, with their 
generally attractive grounds, give an 
air of solidity and permanence to the 
village as a whole. This period was 
also one of broader social life in many 
ways, compared with today, and the 
homes were more generally the attrac- 
tive scenes of social gatherings, often 
of considerable size. Later house con- 



296 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



striiction, as a rule, has been of smaller 
dwelling's of frame and these have 
been built in very closely toward the 
center of the town. 

A public school was already located 
in the village when incorporated in 1S32. 
The old wooden building, a veritable 
Hretrap, was replaced in 1879 by the 
present brick structure, which has 
since been enlarged. In 1893 this was 
made into the Fort Plain High school, 
with a primary and grammar school 
department. A school conducted in 
the "Lockville" section was united with 
the main one at that time. A new site 
and building for the Fort Plain High 
school is now (1914) under considera- 
tion. 

The Fort Plain Hank was organized 
Dec. 25, 1838. The National Fort Plain 
Bank was the name after a reorgani- 
zation in 1864. The Farmers and Me- 
chanics Bank, a state institution, was 
inaugurated 18S7. 

The Fort Plain Seminary and Col- 
legiate Institute was erected in 1853, 
by a stock company with a capital of 
$32,000 and chartered by the regents of 
the university, Oct. 20 of that year. 
The first scholastic year of the insti- 
tution began Nov. 7, 1853, with 513 
students. lu 1879 this large brick 
structure was remodeled into a still 
larger building of five stories and oc- 
cupied by Clinton Liberal Institute, 
which removed here from Clinton. 
This was a school under the patronage 
of the Universalist denomination and 
continued to fill an important educa- 
tional mission until it was unfortu- 
nately destroyed by lire in 1900. In- 
struction was given in academical, col- 
lege preparatory and commercial 
courses and there was an important 
and largely attended line arts depart- 
ment which schooled in music, elocu- 
tion, and drawing and painting. In 
its latter years a military department 
was added and plans were on foot to 
make it exclusively a boys' military 
school when it was destroyed. It occu- 
pied a beautiful site of about ten acres 
on high ground and had, beside the 
main building, a gymnasium, a large 
armory and athletic Held. Crowds 
came to witness the held sports and 



the baseball and football matches in 
which this preparatory school fre- 
(luently competed successfully with 
college teams. "C. L. I." was a center 
of culture for all the people of the 
middle Mohawk valley and its destruc- 
tion was a great educational loss to 
not only Fort Plain, but a great area 
of country about it. Its park-like site 
was known first as "Seminary Hill" 
and later as "Institute Hill." An effort 
v.as made to have it converted into a 
public park and site for the High 
school, but this unfortunately failed of 
a majority in a village election held in 
1909. Over 200 students were in at- 
tendance at C. L. I. during some years. 

The town of Minden, including Fort 
Plain, bore its full share of the terri- 
ble 'cost, in lives and treasure, of the 
War of the Rebellion. Minden as a 
whole furnished 518 men at an ex- 
l)ense, beside the county bounty, of 
$1 .■)4,14:'.. This is according to Beer's 
1S7S lli.slor.N-. The Grand Army of the 
Republic is (1913) represented in Fort 
Plain by Klock Post, G. A. R., named 
after Capt. Klock of St. Johnsville. 
See the chapter on Montgomery county 
in the Civil war. 

The construction of the West Shore 
railroad in 1883 made Fort Plain a 
station on the new line, which has 
lately been denominated South Fort 
Plain to differentiate it from the New 
York Central station and to avoid con- 
fusion among shippers. The comple- 
tion of the West Shore railroad in 
1883 was marked by a disastrous wreck 
on that road at Diefendorf Hill to the 
north of Fort Plain. Two passenger 
trains, scheduled to pass each other 
at the Fort Plain station at noon, col- 
lided through some misunderstanding 
of orders. Several lives were lost and 
tile wreck was most spectacular, one 
of the engines being shoved upright 
into an almost perpendicular position. 
What was to have been a day of cele- 
bration was changed into one of gloom 
at Fort Plain. The wreck was viewed 
by large crowds of people. 

Shortly before the completion of the 
West Shore, occurred a riot of Italian 
laborers and several of them were 
wounded b.\' townspeople who broke up 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



297 



the KJithcring in front of the Zoller 
house, which they besieged, as in it 
was hidden the contractor who owed 
them their wages. The day was one 
of great excitement for Fort Plain. 

AI)out 1870 the Fort Plain Spring 
and Axle Works was established in 
Fort Plain, the business having been 
originally located in Springfield Cen- 
tre. This was a large industry, em- 
ploying a considerable force of men, 
many of them mechanics of the high- 
est class earning high wages. This 
plant was the first important village 
manufacturing concern and its re- 
moval to Chicago Heights in 1894 was 
a distinct loss to the village for sev- 
eral years. Two important silk mills 
were located in Fort Plain in a period 
between about 1880 and 1884. The 
largest, located on Willett street, was 
burned in 1884 and this was an event 
temporarily disastrous to the town. 

One of the largest Canal street firms 
doing business had its grain elevator 
and mill burned in a spectacular fire 
in 1883. After this date the canal bus- 
iness fell off rapidly. At present in 
the village of Fort Plain are industries 
devoted to the manufacture of fur- 
niture, knit goods, silk, toy wagons, 
paper boxes, broombands, lithographed 
tin, corn buskers, hose liands, can 
openers, pickles, caliinet and bookcase 
work, condensed milk and many minor 
industries. 

The 1912 Industrial Directory of the 
State of New York issued by the De- 
partment of Labor gives the following 
manufacturing statistics relative to 
Fort Plain: 

Fort Plain (Montgomery county), in- 
corporated as a village in ]8.'52; esti- 
mated population in 191.3, 2,857. Fort 
Plain is situated on the Mohawk river, 
the Erie [Barge] canal, and the West 
Shore railroad. The village of Nellis- 
ton, on the opposite [north] side of the 
river on the New York Central rail- 
road, is a part of Fort Plain industri- 
ally. The principal manufactures are 
knit goods and furniture. The village 
is an important trading center for the 
surrounding country, which is devoted 
to dairy farming and general agricul- 
ture. Huilding stone is found in the 
vicinit.\' of the village; there is consid- 
eralile undeveloiied WMter power with- 
in ten miles. [There is also the elec- 
tric power derived from the power sta- 



tion (jf the Mohawk Hydro-Electric Co. 
li.y direct transmission line from 
Efihratah, six miles distant.] Fort 
Plain has a s(!wer system, municipal 
water works and electric lighting [and 
power] service. 

Twenty-two manufactories with 737 
employes. Those employing over 10 
hands arc, Bailey Knitting Mills, knit 
goods, 441; A. & C A. Hix, furniture, 
86; Duffy Silk Co., silk throwing, 52; 
Fort Plain Knitting Co., knit goods, 
46; Empire State Metal Wheel Co., 
children's wagons, 21; Century Cabi- 
net Co., l>ookcases, 16; Borden Con- 
densed Milk Co., condensed milk (in 
Nelliston), 15; J. M. Yordon, paper 
boxes, 11. 14 small factories, 49. The 
principal industries are knit goods 
with 487 employes and furniture with 
102 employes. 

Fort Plain has gas and electric 
light. It also has electric power fur- 
nished by the Mohawk Hydro-Elec- 
tric Co. The concern has rights to the 
use of the water in the Caroga lakes 
and is one of the few water power 
companies that has a dependable 
water supply, particularly during the 
summer months. The introduction of 
this power into Fort Plain in 1912 un- 
doubtedly means much to the future 
industrial growth of this town, as it is 
claimed that power can be developed 
here as cheaply as anywhere in the 
east. The Mohawk Hydro-Electric 
company gave the free use of electric- 
ity to the merchants of Fort Plain 
during the street fair of 1912, which 
resulted in a brilliant electric display 
in the village streets, quite unique 
among' the towns of the valley. See the 
chapter on western Montgomery coun- 
ty hydro-electric power development. 

In 1884 a Woman's Literary society 
was organized in Fort Plain with a 
membership of about forty. Shortly 
after this organization was effected it 
was decided that the efforts of its 
members should be directed toward 
the establishment of a public library. 
With this idea in view a "book recep- 
tion" has held at the home of one of 
its members, and a number of books 
and some contril)utions of money were 
received. It was resolved to work un- 
der the name of the Women's I^ibrary 
Association of Fort Plain and the con- 
stantly growing collection of books 
was housed at a number of places, un- 



298 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



til 1909 when the children of the late 
James H. Williams, in conjunction with 
Miss Sadie J. Williams, all of Brook- 
lyn, gave the use of the house at the 
corner of River and Willett streets to 
the Fort Plain Public Library, which 
had been incorporated under that 
name. This was presented as a me- 
morial to one of Fort Plain's first mer- 
chants, Harvey E. Williams, and his 
son, James H. Williams, who was born 
here. The library was also willed 
$1,000 by the late John Winning and 
$2,000 by the late Homer N. Lock- 
wood. Aside from these library gifts, 
the Catherine Nellis Memorial chapel 
and a drinking fountain presented by 
the late Charles Tanner, are the only 
public benefactions to the people of 
Fort Plain within the writer's knowl- 
edge. 

Fort Plain has many fraternal, so- 
cial and church organizations. The 
Old Fort Plain band has been a high- 
class musical organization for a half 
century, and at one time the town 
had two bands. The volunteer fire de- 
partment has generally maintained a 
high degree of efficiency. The Fort 
Plain club was originally organized as 
an athletic and social club of young 
men in 1891. It took in business men 
as members the same year and became 
a business men's social organization. 
The merchants and manufacturers of 
the town are organized under the title 
of the Associated Business Interests of 
Fort Plain. Fort Plain Lodge. IsTo. 433, 
F. and A. M.. was organized June 17, 
1858. 

A railroad, from Fort Plain to Rich- 
field Springs and Cooperstown, has 
been agitated ever since an initial 
meeting of townspeople, to further that 
object, in 1828. In 1894 work was 
actually begun, a right of way having 
been obtained. Much of the road bed 
was constructed but the contractors 
failed and the project fell through. 

In the fall of 1898 a number of Main 
street merchants got up, on the spur 
of the moment, a display of farm 
fruits and produce on the sidewalks in 
front of their stores, and this was the 
nucleus of the Fort Plain street fair, 



famed throughout Central New York. 
Great crowds come by horse and auto- 
mobile conveyances and by trains from 
up and down the valley to this Sep- 
tember carnival. Excellent displays of 
fruit, farm produce, field crops and 
poultry are held under canvas covered 
booths on the brick pavement of Canal 
and Main streets. As many as 50,000 
visitors are estimated to have attended 
the fair, during the week in which it 
is held, and 15,000 are said to have been 
present on a single day. The manage- 
ment is vested with the Fort Plain 
Street Fair association and the neces- 
sary funds are raised by private sub- 
scriptions. Free attractions are an- 
nually offered and the crowds, while 
full of the fair and carnival spirit and 
addicted to much noise, are invariably 
orderly and arrests and petty crimes 
are almost unknown. 

In the years from 1880 to 1910, Fort 
Plain established water, electric light 
and sewage systems. The water sys- 
tem was originally owned by a private 
company, with reservoir in Freys- 
bush. The village instituted its own 
plant in 1895, with reservoir in Pala- 
tine, a mile northeast of the town. Its 
water is taken from North creek, a 
branch of the Caroga. In 1903 parts 
of Canal and Main streets were paved 
with brick and since that time the 
main thoroughfares have been so 
paved. About 1885 occurred the de- 
velopment of Prospect Hill as a resi- 
dential section. 

In 1911, Atwood, the aviator, made 
his epoch-making trip by aeroplane 
from St. Louis to New York. He land- 
ed in a field on the E. I. Nellis farm 
in Nelliston. This was his only over- 
night stop in the Mohawk valley 
which he used as his route from Syra- 
cuse to Castleton on the Hudson. He 
landed near Glen village. Montgomery 
county, on the day following his stop 
in Nelliston. The history of Nelliston 
it might be here remarked, is practic- 
ally coincident with that of Fort Plain, 
since about 1850 when Nelliston began 
to grow into the pleasant and attrac- 
tive town it now is. The date of At- 
wood's landing at Nelliston was Aug. 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



299 



22, 1911. Atvvood slept that night in 
Fort Plain, where he was accorded, as 
he said, the best reception of his wiiole 
journey. 

In 1911 the Fritclier opera house 
was burned and the Fort Plain theatre 
was' erected in the same year. A U. S. 
Government building, housing the 
postoffice and costing, with site. .|65,- 
000, is provided for and will soon be 
erected. 

The following gives the known fig- 
ures of the population of Fort Plain: 
1825, 200; 1832, 400; 1860, 1,592; 1870, 
1,797; 1880, 2,443; 1890, 2 864; 1900, 
2,444; 1910, 2,762. Fort Plain and Nel- 
liston, combined, population figures: 
1880, 3,001; 1890, 3,585; 1900. 3,078; 
1910, 3,499. Fort Plain and Nelliston 
are virtually one community, on oppo- 
site sides of the Mohawk. 

The following are the population fig- 
ures for the tpw'h of Minden: 1850, 
4,623; 1860, 4,412; 1870. 4,600; 1S80, 
5100; 1890, 5,198; 1900, 4,541; 1910, 
4,645. 

The Reformed society moved from 
Sand Hill to Fort Plain and built a 
church in 1834 on its present site. 
This burned and in 1835 a structure, 
long known as "the brick church," was 
built which was repaired in 1872. 
While these were building, the congre- 
gation used the church at Sand Hill, 
but upon the completion of the brick 
one the old structure to the west of 
the village, was demolished. The ec- 
clesiastical relations of this church are 
with the classis of Montgomery and 
through it with the General Synod of 
the Reformed Church in America. In 
1887 a new and architecturally import- 
ant brick church was built by the 
Reformed society and an adjoining 
frame dwelling was purchased and be- 
came the parsonage. 

The first Methodist class in Fort 
Plain was formed, June 24, 1832. In 
early times the Methodist services 
were occasionally held in the Sand 
Hill church, but more frequently in 
the second story of a building that 
stood near the Clark place on Upper 
Canal street. When this building was 
moved to a spot near the present Shin- 



aman drug store, the Methodists con- 
tinued its use as a meeting place. 
Then for several years before 1842 
services were held in what was at 
that time the district school house, 
which occupied the site of the present 
one. The first Methodist church was 
dedicated Feb. 20, 1845. In 1854 it 
was enlarged and re-dedicated. In 
1879, a large new brick structure was 
erected on the old site. A Methodist 
church (of frame construction) was 
built in Nelliston in 1895. 

The first Universalist society of 
Minden was organized April 6, 1833, 
and the first church was dedicated 
Dec. 25, 1833. It was remodeled in 
1855 and 1874. In 1896 the old frame 
structure was torn down and a large, 
brick church was erected on the site. 

The (German) Lutheran church so- 
ciety held its first meetings in 1842 in 
private houses. The first church 
building was built in 1853. The pres- 
ent brick structure was completed in 
1874. A Baptist society was formed 
in 1891 and a brick church was built 
in 1892. A Catholic frame church was 
erected in 1887. An Episcopal church 
was erected on Prospect Hill in 1887 
and in 1899 was removed to the corner 
of Lydius and Washington streets. 

Fordsbush or Minden, in the south- 
west corner of the town of Minden, 
has two churches, Lutheran and Uni- 
versalist. The Universalist was or- 
ganized in 1838 and the church was 
enlarged and rebuilt in 1874. 

The Freysbush Lutheran church was 
organized in 1834. In 1841 a house of 
worship was built, and a large team 
shed adjoining in 1845. A parsonage 
and barn were erected in 1868. Meth- 
odist services have been held in Freys- 
bush since 1812, but the place did not 
become an independent pastoral charge 
until 1847. The church building of the 
society is the second occupied by 
them, its predecessor having been the 
first Methodist church built in the 
town of Minden. 

The association managing the ceme- 
tery of Fort Plain was organized 
March 4, 1864. It occupies, on the 
heights in the northwest corner of the 
village territory, a large and beautiful 



300 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



location. The view of the valley ob- 
tained from it is very fine and this 
park-like burial place is one of the 
most important in Central New York. 
The stone Catherine Nellis Memorial 
chapel, of much beauty and architec- 
tural merit, is the gift of Mrs. H. H. 
Benedict of New York, in memory of 
her mother, and was erected in 1907. 



Minden today is a prosperous dairy- 
ing and farming section and it is famed 
for the beauty of its rolling hills and 
wooded valleys. Fort Plain has 
many advantages, and some disadvan- 
tages of location. In Prospect hill, it 
has a sightly viewpoint, the equal of 
which is not possessed by any valley 
town excepting Little Falls. The vis- 
tas opened up to a spectator on this 
hill are wide and exceedingly pleasing 
in their variety 'of river, canal, fertile 
fields and distant wooded hills. It is 
a valley section and a village with a 
situation and a setting, which offers 
unusual opportunities for the factory, 
for the dwellers in the town or on the 
fertile farms round about it. 

Prospect Hill is a valley eminence 
and a little hill of the world — a place 
of today and of yesterday; though but 
of comparatively low elevation it has 
the breath of the far uplands and the 
clear upper summits of the Mohawk 
valley. Along its margins yet remain 
a few vestiges of the ancient forest, 
which covered this viewpoint and 
stretched away in every direction to 
the summits of the distant high hills 
in the days of the Mohawks. Here are 
oaks, elms., a few pines, and other of 
our noble native trees. To the south- 
ward Prospect Hill rises to a noble 
height of two hundred feet above the 
river. This portion of this upland was 
the Tarahjohrees, or "the hill of 
health" of the Mohawks, and its sum- 
mit would be easily accessible, from 
the wooded little valley and brook 
(which lies just south of the southern 
limits of the village of Fort Plain and 
enters the Mohawk at the upper end of 
Nellis island) were it not for many 
barbed-wire fences intervening. From 
Prospect Hill one can easily imagine 
the valley as it was — perhaps as it will 



be — and view it as it is. Its aloofness 
suggests pictures of the past while its 
close proximity to village, railroads 
and canal, gives an intimate insight 
into the valley and village life of to- 
day. Its triangular bluff point, abut- 
ting on Otsquago creek should be- 
come a village park, to prevent its use 
for other purposes. 



Mason's 1892 History of Montgomery 
County published the following on the 
town of Minden: "This is the south- 
west corner town of the county and 
lies on the ."outh bank of the Mohawk. 
Its boundaries are formed by the Mo- 
hawk on the north. Cannjobarie on tho 
east, Otsego county on the south and 
Herkimer county on the west. "'lie 
surface of Minden consists chiefly of 
an undulating upland with steep de- 
clivities bordering on the streams. 
Otsquago creek [which rises almost 
twenty miles away in Otsego county] 
flows in a northeasterly direction, re- 
ceiving the waters of the Otsquene 
creek (its principal tributary) about 
the center of the town, and emptying 
into the Mohawk ;.t Fort Plain. Ots- 
quago is derived from the Mohawk 
word 'Oxsquago,' signifying 'under the 
bridge.' The other streams of the town 
are of minor importance. The branches 
of the Otsquago radiate largely through 
the greater part of the town." There 
are besides, eight small Virooks run- 
ning into the Mohawk to the north of 
Fort Plain. The largest of these is the 
picturesque one which flows through 
Oak Hill and alongside the Dutchtown 
road for a distance of four miles. One 
of the most interesting little brooks of 
Minden is the Little Woods creek, 
which flows through a pretty little val- 
ley along the northern side of the pla- 
teau on which stood old Fort Plain. 
This rivulet forms the northern limit 
of the village limits of Fort Plain. Just 
to the south of the village limits lies 
another little brook running from 
Prospect Hill into the Mohawk, and 
the 2V^ square miles of Fort Plain's 
territory lie, generally speaking, be- 
tween these two little streams. The 
greatest length of Minden from, north- 
east to southwest, is ten miles, and its 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



301 



greatest breadth, along the river is 
eight miles. 

"The soil throughout the greater part 
of the town is a fine quality of gravelly 
and clayey loam, and is well adapted 
to grazing. In dairy products, Minden 
has always been in advance of the 
neighboring towns, and the cultivation 
of hops has also been an important 
feature in agricultural pursuit [but has 
now ceased to be.]" 

Minden is said to be the largest pro- 
ducer of dairy products of the five 
towns of the famous dairying section 
of western Montgomery county. Like 
the balance of western Montgomery 
county, hay, oats and corn are the 
principal crops. The Fort Plain Milk 
Co. controls (1914) a number of dairies 
and the milk from 3,000 cows. 

"Much interest is added to the his- 
tory of Minden by the fact that it con- 
tains the remains of one of those an- 
cient fortifications, which are not un- 
common in central and western New 
York, but are rare in the eastern part 
of the state. They indicate that the 
country was inhabited long prior to the 
advent of the [Iroquois] Indians, and, 
with the exception of similar remains 
recently discovered in Ephratah, are 
the farthest east thus far discovered 
even by the geologist. They are situ- 
ated four miles south of Fort Plain on 
a promontory ["Indian Hill" on the 
Otsquene, a half mile from its junction 
with the Otsquago], 100 feet above the 
stream, the declivities being almost 
precipitous. Across the promontory, at 
its narrowest part, is a curved line of 
breastworks, 240 feet in length, en- 
closing an area of about seven acres. 
A gigantic pine, six feet in diameter, 
stands upon the embankment, giving 
added proof that the work must have 
been of great antiquity." The facts 
here given concerning this prehistoric 
Indian site are credited to "Smith- 
sonian Contributors," Vol. 2, article 6. 

Indian Hill is a most interesting 
place, well worthy a visit, and evidenc- 
ing markedly the picturesque beauty of 
the Otsquago valley. Many Indian re- 
mains (pottery, arrowheads, etc.) have 
been here uncovered. 

Minden has the following hamlets 



within its borders: Mindenville, Min- 
den, Hallsville, Brookmans Corners, 
Salt Springville (part in Minden and 
part in Otsego county), and Freys- 
bush. Its elevation above the sea 
ranges from about 300 feet, at the Mo- 
hawk at Fort Plain, to 986 feet at Salt 
Springville. Between the sites of Fort 
Windecker and Fort Willett the land 
is 894 feet elevation. Oak Hill has an 
elevation above the Mohawk of 500 
feet and Prospect Hill of over 100 feet. 
A furlong or more below the. village 
limits curious spurs or small, sharp 
"noses" abut on the flatlands. One of 
these is over 200 feet above the river 
and the Erie canal is almost at its 
feet. A magnificent view up and 
down the valley for a distance of 
twelve miles or more is here obtained 
and this is probably the highest ground 
so close to the river between Fall Hill 
and the Noses. A point on the Seebers 
Lane road, a mile south of the village 
on the Canajoharie-Minden line, has 
an elevation of 500 feet or more above 
the Mohawk and a sea level elevation 
of over 800 feet. This is probably the 
highest land near the village. From 
all these sightly points magnificent 
views may be obtained. They are the 
principal elevations of the eastern end 
of the town lying along the river, from 
which they may be readily seen. 

However, the beauty of Minden 
scenery is* not alone in these lofty 
lookouts but also along the Otsquago, 
in the woodlands, and on the upland 
meadows where graze the peculiarly 
marked and belted Holstein-Frisian 
cattle, making curious spots of black 
and white on a, background of attrac- 
tive landscape. The numerous farms, 
with their buildings, may generally be 
objects of pride to the people of 
Minden. 



Miss Margaret B. Stewart is the au- 
thor of the following paper on "The 
Founding of Fort Plain:" 

"Long before Fort Plain [the present 
village] was even thought of and be- 
fore the Erie canal was dreamt of, 
there were but few residents who 
owned the soil on which Fort Plain 
now stands. The mercantile, postof- 



302 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



fice and other business was transacted 
at Sand Hill. 'Pingster Day' was a 
great holiday for the slaves. They had 
a peculiar dance they called 'To-to' 
dance, which always met at Wagner's 
tavern, and as [this part of] Fort 
Plain had no name, it was commonly 
known as 'To-to-ville' and next as 
Wagnersville [probably from the tav- 
ern]. Just as soon as the project of 
the canal became a fact, the ground 
for a village was surveyed and staked 
out, a map drawn, and, before the canal 
was finished, the sale of lots began 
and immediately buildings were erect- 
ed, ready for business on the canal. 
At this period there were no churches, 
no halls, and all the ground from Mo- 
hawk and Canal streets up to the 
Grouse bluff was vacant, up as far as 
Abeel's along the canal [with the ex- 
ception of a few buildings as noted in 
previous chapters]. 

"Religion and politics ran high for 
those were stormy days. As I said 
before, there were no churches then, 
and the Methodists, Dutch Reformed 
and Universalists held their meetings 
in the schoolhouse, which stood on its 
present site. First one would occupy 
it, then the other, and the other. The 
doctrine of the Universalists was new 
to Fort Plain, and the orthodox opened 
fire on them and threw hot shell into 
their camp, and the Universalists fired 
back. Each tried to hold the fort and 
a fierce discussion in the schoolhouse, 
in the streets, stores and shops was 
kept up, which entirely divided the 
community — a kind of cat and dog re- 
ligion. The Methodists brought out 
their heaviest gun — Elder Knapp, one 
of the most popular and redhot revi- 
valists in the state. He hurled the 
Universalists into hell, without giving 
them time to pull off their boots. The 
Dutch Reformed brought on their big 
gun, Ketcham of Stone Arabia, who 
helped kindle hell's fire and get it boil- 
ing. Then the Universalists got Dr. 
Skinner, of Utica, with a cartload of 
ice and put out the fire. So it went 
and the people took sides and the 
schoolhouse was too small.- The result 
was that the Universalists built their 
church and the Dutch Reformed built 



their church — a frame building — on 
the site where the brick building now 
stands. The churches were built and 
finished at the same time and were to 
be dedicated the same day. 

"The night before dedication, the 
Dutch Reformed church Ijurned down, 
but money was raised and a brick 
church was erected on the same spot. 
Next came up the subject of incorpor- 
ating the village, and in 1831 there was 
no opi)osition, except in the name. 
Some wanted the village named Fort 
Plank and others Fort Plain. Finally 
Fort Plain was agreed upon and on the 
25th of April, 1832, the village was in- 
corporated." 



Fort Plain was the home of George 
W. Elliott and Jeptha R. Simms, both 
known through their literary labors. 

Jeptha R. Simms was born in Can- 
terbury, Conn., Dec. 31, 1807. His 
father, Capt. Joseph Simms, removed 
to Plainfield, N. Y., in 1824. Beginning 
1826, J. R. Simms was a clerk in Cana- 
joharie, for three years, going from 
there to New York city. In the fall of 
1832 he returned to Canajoharie and 
went into business with Herman I. 
Ehle, a former employer. After a 
clerkship for a time in Schoharie, Mr. 
Simms set about collecting the scat- 
tered materials for his "History of 
Schoharie County and Borders Wars 
of New York," published in 1845. In 
1846 he published a Revolutionary tale 
entitled the "American Spy" and, in 
1850, the "Trappers of New York." In 
1882 was issued his "Frontiersmen of 
New York," in two volumes, dealing 
with Mohawk valley history, princi- 
pally of the Revolution, and particu- 
larly with that of the neighborhood 
immediately adjacent to Fort Plain. It 
is largely owing to his labors that so 
much of local record has been pre- 
served. Mr. Simms died in Fort Plain 
in 1883, aged 76 years. 

Simms lived in Fultonville for a 
number of years and while there pub- 
lished his "Border Wars" in 1845; and 
also erected a very handsome resi- 
dence built of cobblestones, every one 
of which he gathered in the vicinity 
and for the outside course he sized 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



303 



them through a hole in a board to have 
them uniform. This dwelling, still in 
fine condition, is in possession of 
Starin Industrial and Benevolent asso- 
ciation and called Cobblestone Hall. 

George W. Elliott was a resident of 
Fort Plain in the sixties and married 
Mary Bowen, daughter of Solomon 
Bowen, who for years conducted Mont- 
gomery Hall (later the Lipe House), 
which was remodeled into the present 
building of the Farmers and Mechan- 
ics Bank. Elliott was editor of the 
(Fort Plain) "Mohawk Valley Regis- 
ter" for a time and wrote much pleas- 
ing poetry. His best known produc- 
tion is "Bonny Eloise, the Belle of the 
Mohawk Vale," which has become the 
song of the valley. It is said he com- 
posed the words to this popular mel- 
ody while on a railroad journey from 
New York to Fort Plain, addressing 
his song to his sweetheart, Mary 
Bowen (with a. change of name). The 
.work bears copyright date of 1858 and 
J. R. Thomas was the composer of the 
plaintively sweet melody to which Mr. 
Elliott's words are sung. The lyric 
follows: 

Bonny Eloise. 

Oh, sweet is the vale where the Mo- 
hawk gently glides 
On its clear winding way to the sea, 
And dearer than all storied streams on 
earth besides 
Is this bright rolling river to me. 

(Chorus) 

But sweeter, dearer, yes dearer far 
than these, 

Who charms where others all fail. 
Is blue-eyed, bonny, bonny Eloise, 

The belle of the Mohawk vale. 

Oh, sweet are the scenes of my boy- 
hood's sunny years. 
That bespangle the gay valley o'er. 
And dear are the friends seen through 
memory's fond tears 
That have lived in the blest days of 
yore. 

(Chorus) 

Oh, sweet are the moments when 
dreaming I roam 
Thro' my loved haunts now mossy 
and grey. 
And dearer than all is my childhood's 
hallowed home. 
That is crumbling now slowly away. 

(Chorus) 



Lossing wrote, in 1848, concerning 
Fort Plain and its surrounding coun- 
try, as follows, in his "Pictorial Field 
Book of the American Revolution:" 

"Fort Plain (at the junction of the 
Otsquago creek and the Mohawk) one 
of the numerous comely children 
brought forth and fostered by^the pro- 
lific commerce of the Erie canal, is 
near the site of the fortification of 
that name erected in the Revolution. 
****** 

"At Fort Plain I was joined by my 
traveling companions, * * * and 
made it my headquarters for three 
days, while visiting places of interest 
in the vicinity. It being a central 
point in the hostile movements in 
Tryon county, from the time of the 
flight of St. Leger from before Fort 
Stanwix until the close of the war, we 
will plant our telescope of observation 
here for a time, and view the most 
important occurrences within this par- 
ticular sweep of its speculum. * * * 

"Who that has passed along the 
Valley of the Mohawk, near the close 
of a day in summer, has not been 
deeply impressed with the singular 
beauty of the scene? Or who, that 
has traversed the uplands, that skirt 
this fruitful garden, and stretch away 
to other valleys, and mingle with the 
loftier hills or fertile intervals within 
the borders of ancient Tryon county, is 
not filled with wonder while contem- 
plating the changes that have been 
wrought there within a life-span? 
When the terrible drama, which we 
have been considering, was performed 
almost the whole country was covered 
with a primeval forest. Clearings were 
frequent along the Mohawk river and 
cultivation was assiduous in producing 
the blessings of abundance and gen- 
eral prosperity; but the southern por- 
tions of Herkimer and Montgomery, 
* * * [much of] Schoharie and all 
of Otsego, down to the remote settle- 
ments of Unadilla, were a wilderness 
except where a few thriving settle- 
ments were growing upon the water 
courses. The traveler as he views the 
'field joined to field' in the Mohawk 
valley, all covered with waving 
grain, green pastures, or bending fruit 



304 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



trees, inclosing, in their arms of plenty, 
elegant mansions; or watches the vast 
stream of inland commerce that rolls 
by upon the Erie Canal; or the villages 
of people that almost hourly sweep 
along its margin after the vapor steed; 
or rides over the adjacent hill country, 
north and south, enlivened by villages 
and rich in cultivation, can hardly 
realize the fact that here, seventy 
years ago, the wild Indian was joint 
possessor of the soil with the hardy 
settlers, and that the light of civiliza- 
tion was as scattered and feeble, and 
for a while as evanescent and fleeting, 
in these broad solitudes, as is the 
sparkle of a firefly on a summer even- 
ing. Yet such is the wonderful truth; 
and as I passed down the canal, at the 
close of the day, from Fort Plain to 
Fultonville, surrounded with the ac- 
tivity, opulence and beauty of the Mo- 
hawk valley, I could not, while con- 
trasting this peacefulness and progress 
with the discord and social inertia of 
other lands, repress the feelings of the 
Pharisee." 



On the streets of Fort Plain, those 
who look aloft see, silhouetted against 
the sky, a giant elm on the crest of 
Prospect Hill — a presiding spirit of 
the hill and of the village — a land- 
mark known to all who dwell or have 
dwelt within its range. Under its 
great branches one may view for miles 
the quiet valley and the Mohawk 
winding northward. Truly it is a spirit 
of the hill, the town and the valley 
for it has been a silent witness of all 
the many changes of animal and plant 
life along the Mohawk from the day 
when the dusky Iroquois sped in his 
bark canoe upon the rippling waters 
till that eventful evening when a bird 
man came flying high over the gloom- 
ing hills from the far westward. For 
this noble tree must have graced this 
spot from the day when the very first 
white settler made his forest home 
within sight of "Tahraghjorees, 'the 
hill of health,' " well beloved of the 
Mohawks. Here came the first Dutch 
traders, of whom we have a record, to 
the Iroquois village of Osquago and 



here they were well received by its 
chieftain, Ognoho, "the wolf." 

The big tree of Tahraghjorees has 
been a witness of the coming of the 
Dutch, German and British; it has 
seen the destruction of that immense 
forest, of which it was once a unit, and 
with it the passing of the Mohawks 
who dwelt upon its hill. 

Now from this great elm have been 
visible many sights of interest to all 
our people. Let these visions arise 
once more in fleeting succession: 

Here come the first white men toil- 
ing with poles to push their laden 
flatboats up stream to their future 
woodland homes; some driving their 
cattle and carts along the river trails. 

Many of these same pioneers, with 
their women and children, later flee 
eastward, for the French and Indians 
have burned the village at German 
Flatts and murdered its people. 

Long lines of soldiers stream up and 
down the turnpike at the foot of the , 
hill, going to and returning from 
battles with the Canadian French and 
Indians. Here come ten thousand sol- 
diers — militia and regulars — marching 
slowly up the valley; drums beat, 
trumpets sound, arms and red coats 
glitter in the sunlight; on the river 
the batteaux slowly creep westward 
bearing army supplies and munitions. 
It is General Amherst's great army on 
its way to capture Montreal and Can- 
ada from the French. 

On a hill to the west sturdy Ger- 
mans are building the blockhouses and 
stockade of old Fort Plain. 

Up the valley march the patriot far- 
mers on their way to the gory field of 
Oriskany; back come the straggling 
survivors, carrying their wounded 
comrades in litters and on river boats. 

The green summer landscape is 
spotted with the fire and smoke of 
burning buildings, while Brant and his 
merciless savages are raiding over the 
Minden hills; distant tiny figures are 
fleeing toward the fort; bands of 
naked, yelling brutes are in chase, 
striking down bloodily those they 
catch. 

Here comes a great column of Am- 
erican soldiers; Van Rensselaer is 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



305 



riding at their head; they beg him to 
lead on to Stone Arabia where stnoke 
is rising from the fires set by John- 
son's raiders; the listless general, un- 
heeding, rides on to the fort to fill his 
stomach to the full; his men cursing 
cross the river at the island and chase 
the foe up the river; the red and white 
savages escape in the night. 

A rider gallops furiously along the 
turnpike, plunges through the creek 
and up to the fort; drums beat and a 
battalion of fighting men come 
swarming like bees from out a hive; 
there they go rapidly tramping by to 
the field of Johnstown; at their head 
rides the big, powerful figure of Mar- 
inus Willett. 

Washington and Clinton, with their 
escort of Continental officers, ride out 
from old Port Plain over the trail to 
Otsego lake. 

Now come the settlers' caravans, the 
"prairie schooners," rolling to the dis- 
tant west over the valley highways; 
great flat-wheeled freight wagons 
crawl slowly eastward and westward. 
The first mail stagecoach comes rat- 
tling cheerily up the southern turn- 
pike. Its arrival is a lively event to 
the valley folk. People go to the tav- 
ern to see if the stage has brought 
them letters or newspapers. 

Men are tearing down the fort on 
the distant hillside; farmers are draw- 
ing away its timbers and palisades. 

Up the river, at the Island, the 
sturdy valley men are making the first 
bridge in sight across the Mohawk. 

River boats, heavily laden with arms 
and supplies, move laboriously up the 
Mohawk. Columns of the men of 1812 
march to the westward to defend the 
New York frontier from British in- 
vasion; many sons of the valley are in 
the ranks. 

Myriads of tiny figures are dig- 
ging a great ditch parallel with the 
river, in which to float greater freight 
and passenger boats; they are chang- 
ing the channel of the Otsquago at 
the foot of the hill; streets are being 
laid out, dwellings and stores are going 
up on the flatlands, where before were 
but a few scattered houses; the noise 
of building is heard all the day long. 



A railroad has been built on the east 
or "north" bank of the Mohawk; 
crowds of people gather at the Fort 
Plain station to watch the first trains 
go by, crowded with cheering travel- 
ers; all make this a great holiday. 

Men are stringing wires on poles 
along the railroad; to the incredulous 
watchers they say men will signal and 
talk through the tiny metal wire. 

Drums are beating in the valley be- 
low; crowds are watching the "boys in 
blue" marching to entrain for south- 
ern battlefields where northern brother 
will clash with southern brother; ere 
long the black hearse wends its way 
up the hillside to the white, monu- 
ment-dotted cemetery, bearing one 
killed in this dread war; sorrowing 
women, children and men follow to the 
soldier's grave, where on Decoration 
day waves a tiny flag of red, white and 
blue. 

Brick factories arise on the river 
flats. 

Another railroad is being made along 
the south or "west" bank of the river; 
here and there are clusters of shanties, 
housing the brawny, swarthy men who 
do the necessary vigorous labor. 

The first automobile whirls through 
the village streets; it becomes one of 
the many nine-day wonders the val- 
ley people have seen. 

Men raise a great dam and lock of 
cement across the Mohawk, filling the 
stream to its bank tops; where, in the 
old days the Indian canoe danced on 
the dark waters and the laden bat- 
teaux slowly floated, great barges will 
glide from lakes to ocean and from 
ocean to lakes. 

Out of the summer evening sky to 
the north a great bird shape comes 
sailing and drops on a Palatine mea- 
dow. People run madly to greet its 
man pilot. 

From the northern hills comes a line 
of great wires, strung on iron pillars, 
running across the fields and through 
the opposite village to Fort Plain, 
bringing the electric power generated 
by the waters of the Caroga — power 
which, in the future, will supplant coal, 
which will heat and light and furnish 



306 



THE STORY OF OLD FORT PLAIN 



the energy to turn the humming fac- 
tory wheels of the town. 

On the hills is in evidence much of 
the agricultural detail of these broad 
rolling farmlands, stretching miles 
away to the far horizon — the roads, 
fields, crops, woods, farmhouses, barns 
and herds — the living moving dots of 
people and animals seeming no larger 
than the tiny ants scurrying about in 
the grass at our feet. The loaded hay- 
wagon moves slowly toward the big 
barn on the distant hilltop; the milk 
wagon rattles along the road with its 
load bound for the village creamery or 
condensed milk factory; countless au- 
tomobiles glide swiftly along the turn- 
pikes; the farm boy and his dog drive 
homeward the black and white cattle 
at nightfall; the evening sun casts it 
orange radiance on the eastern hills — 
here and there a farmhouse window 
glows like a point of living fire. 

Down in the valley are all the signs 
of busy village life; the dawn breaks 
over the Palatine hills through the 
gray river mist; a few people walk 
about in the streets; smoke rises from 
the chimneys in the houses where 
breakfast is cooking; factory' whistles 
blow; workers are going to their tasks; 
a storekeeper unlocks his store door 
and waits upon the farmer who has 
just driven into town; the schoolbell 
rings; children troop to their daily 
lessons, singly and in little groups; 
tiny dark figures, motor cars, dot the 
brick pavements; farm wagons cross 
the river bridge and come rapidly 
down the Otsquago road; trains whis- 
tle, they rush l)y, east and west, some 



stopping at the stations; school is out 
and the happy youngsters skip to play 
or dawdle homewards; a solitary canal 
boat floats into sight on the Erie; a tug 
is unloading goods on the once busy 
docks; workers come from their toil; 
lights are lit and crowds are astir 
along the bright thoroughfares; a 
black mass of peoplis gathers at the 
street corner and the sound of a band 
playing comes softly to the hilltop — 
it is "Bonnie Eloise" the musicians 
are playing; black night comes on; 
the moon rises and illumines the twin 
pale strips of river and canal; lights 
blot out in the house and the town, the 
people, the countryside go to sleep; 
the night wind softly stirs the 
branches of the great tree. 

It is Sunday; the village church bells 
ring clangingly, ponderously; a knell 
for the past, brave notes for the now 
and the days to come; couples of 
young people climb the hill, clad in 
their best; the father, the mother and 
the children slowly walk to the sum- 
mit; they refresh themselves with a 
view of the broad stretches of the val- 
ley and the winding river. 

Many human animals have seen this 
changing panorama in the years gone 
by; most have lived, some happily and 
some unhappily, and have gone to their 
long rest on the distant hilltop. 

The big elm, too, saw all that 
makes up the human story of old Fort 
Plain and of the winding valley; its 
great branches still stand against the 
sky; its message— "I have seen it all, 
I shall see much that is to come." 



APPENDIX 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



The following list of dates forms a 
chronology of the Mohawk valley and 
its six counties of Oneida, Herkimer, 
Montgomery, Fulton, Schoharie and 
Schenectady. The editor of this work 
has found it impossilile to secure dates 
of secondary importance, which will 
explain their absence to those who 
think they should have been included. 
All the dates of the main events of im- 
portance in the history of the Mohawk 
valley are here included: , 

1524 — John de Verezzano, Italian 
navigator, enters harbor of New York; 
possibly first discoverer of territory of 
New York. 

1540 — French fur traders build trad- 
ing post on Castle Island, in Hudson, 
near Albany; destroyed by freshet 
same year and abandoned. 

1604 — Canada's first permanent white 
settlement made at Port Royal, Nova 
Scotia, by the French. 

1608 — Champlain settles Quebec. 

1609 — Champlain and Canadian In- 
dians defeat Mohawks on west shore 
of Lake Champlain, near Ticonderoga, 
making Mohawks lasting enemies of 
the French. 

1609 — Sailors from the Dutch ship, 
Half Moon, pass the mouth of the 
Mohawk. 

1614 — Dutch trading post established 
at Castle Island, near Albany. 

1614 — Probable first visit of white 
men (two Dutch traders) who came up 
the Mohawk and went south to Ot- 
sego, probably by way of the Otsquago. 

1615 — Champlain's expedition against 
the Iroquois defeated in the Onondaga 
country. 

1616 — First French-Canadian priests 
enter Mohawk valley on missionary 
work. 

1621 — Dutch West India Company 



formed, taking possession of New 
Netherlands. 

1624 — First permanent settlement of 
Albany; Fort Orange built; New Am- 
sterdam (New York) settled perma- 
nently same year. 

1626 — New Netherlands (embracing 
New York and New Jersey) made a 
province or county of Holland. 

1634^Three Dutch traders from Fort 
Orange journey on the south side of 
Mohawk river through western Mont- 
gomery county. They visited eight 
Mohawk villages from the Big Nose to 
opposite Caroga creek, seven on the 
south and one on the north side of the 
Mohawk river. 

1646 — Jogues, French Jesuit priest, 
put to death by Mohawks. Shrine at 
Auriesville, Montgomery county, 
marks this event. 

1658 — Four settlers said to have been 
located at Schenectady — Van Slyck, 
Lindsay, Qlen and Teller. Place said 
to have been occupied by white men at 
and before 1642. 

1659 — Council at Caughnawaga be- 
tween Dutch and Mohawks; first held 
.in the valley. 

1661 — Schenectady settled by Dutch; 
historically regarded as the first white 
settlement in Mohawk valley, although 
Schenectady was settled by white men 
before this date. 

1664 — New Netherlands captured by 
the English. Name changed to New 
York. New Amsterdam renamed New 
York and Fort Orange renamed Al- 
bany. 

1666 — French and Indians destroy 
Mohawk villages; Mohawks escape. 

1669, August 18 — Mohawks defeat 
Mohicans in battle at Towereune, near 
Hoffmans, Schenectady county, ensur- 
ing Mohawk control of valley. 



308 



APPENDIX 



1670 (about) — Jan Mabie stone house 
built at Rotterdam, Schenectady coun- 
ty; oldest existing structure in Mo- 
hawk valley. 

1673 — Dutch retake New York state 
from the English. 

1674 — Dutch turn over New York 
again to the English. 

1682 — Reformed Dutch church of 
Schenectady built; later demolished. 

1689 — Mohawks and Iroquois raid 
Canada and Montreal. 

1689 — Hendrick Frey and family set- 
tle at Palatine Bridge. 

1689-1697— First French-British war 
in America, known as King William's 
war. 

1690 — Schenectady burned and peo- 
ple massacred by French and Indians; 
neighborhood repopulated soon after. 

1692 — French-Indian war party at- 
tacked and burned Oneida castle. The 
Onondagas, fearing attack, burned 
their villages and retreated to the 
wilderness. 

1693 — French -Indian-Canadian expe- 
dition, under Count Frontenac, attacks, 
captures and burns the three Mohawk 
castles; hard fight at upper castle; 300 
Mohawks made prisoners; Albany mi- 
litia, under Col. Peter Schuyler, pur- 
sued and retook 50 captives. 

1698 — White population of Mohawk 
valley estimated at 300, mostly in 
Schenectady county. 

1700 — Vrooman house (brick) Sche- 
nectady city, built. 

1700— Schenectady fort rebuilt. It 
was originally destroyed in the massa- 
cre of 1690. It was later rebuilt and 
strengthened in 1735 and in 1780. 

1701-1713 — Second French-British 
war in America, known as Queen 
Anne's war. 

1709 — Four Mohawk chiefs, of whom 
King Hendrick was one, accompany 
Col. Peter Schuyler of Albany to Eng- 
land; received by Queen Anne; object 
of trip to ally Iroquois closely to Eng- 
land. 

1710 — Three Mohawk chiefs and 
Schuyler return from England to Al- 
bany; one chief dies on trip; council 
at Albany at which Iroquois renew al- 
legiance to England. 



1711— Fort Hunter built. 

1712 — Queen Anne's (Episcopal) 
chapel built at Fort Hunter for re- 
ligious instruction of Indians; stone 
parsonage built and still standing; 
chapel destroyed in building Erie canal, 
1817-1825. 

1713 — Glen Sanders house, Scotia, 
Schenectady county, built; oldest large 
house standing in the valley. 

1713 (about) — First settlement by 
Palatine Germans at Stone Arabia 
and on Schoharie creek. 

1713 (about) — First church of logs, 
built at Stone Arabia — Stone Arabia 
Reformed Dutch church. 

1714 — Tuscaroras, driven by whites 
out of Carolinas, settle among Iro- 
quois, who become Six Nations after 
this date. 

1723, Oct. 19— Stone Arabia patent of 
12,700 acres granted to 27 heads of 
families, nearly all Palatine Germans. 

1725 — Burnetsfield patent granting 
land to Palatine German settlers, from 
Little Falls to Frankfort; this year 
found the Mohawk valley settled along 
the river by Germans from the Noses 
westward to Frankfort; also the Scho- 
harie valley settled by Germans and 
Dutch; eastern end of Mohawk valley 
settled by Holland Dutch. 

1730^Major Glen house, Scotia, 
Schenectady county, built. 

1735 — Governor Yates brick house, 
Schenectady city, built. 

1738 — William Johnson settles in 
Florida, Montgomery county, and 
builds Fort Johnson (first house of 
three). 

1738-42 — Sir George Clarke, governor 
of province of New York, builds a 
stone house on site of Fort Plain and 
lives there parts of four years. 

1739— Fort Frey (stone) built at Pal- 
atine Bridge; oldest house in Palatine. 

1742 — Fort Johnson (stone house) 
built, town of Amsterdam, Montgom- 
ery county. This was first named 
Mount Johnson and later called Fort 
Johnson, when fortified; this has made 
considerable confusion between John- 
son's first two houses. 

1743 — Butler frame house, Mohawk 
town, Montgomery county, built. 

1743-1748 — Third French-British war 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



309 



in America, I^nown as King George's 
war. 

1745 — William Johnson appointed 
justice of peace of Albany county and 
colonel of Albany county militia; sets 
about organizing Mohawk valley mi- 
litia; appointed commissioner of In- 
dian affairs for New York province. 

1746, August 4 — Party sent by Col. 
William Johnson against French and 
Indians, ambushed at Chambly. 

1748— Battle of Beukendaal, Schen- 
ectady county, between valley militia 
and Canadian Indians; militia ambus- 
caded, defeated; 30 killed, 13 cap- 
tured. 

1750 — Van Alstine stone house built 
on Canajoharie creek (probably oldest 
in town of Canajoharie). 

1750 — Colonel William Johnson made 
one of governor's council. 

1754 — Commissioners from the colo- 
nies attend a Colonial conference at 
Albany, to discuss colonial defense 
against French; said to be the first 
step in the formation of the United 
States; Col. Wm. Johnson and King 
Hendrick and delegation of Iroquois 
attend; King Hendrick makes famous 
speech. 

1754-1763 — Fourth French-British 
war in America, known as the Seven 
Years war. Offlcially it lasted from 
1756-1763 — but in America it began in 
1754 and ended in 1760. 

1755 — Fort Canajoharie built at pres- 
ent Indian Castle (Herkimer county) 
to protect Mohawks at Canajoharie 
castle. 

1755 — Major-General William John- 
son in command of British-American 
army defeats French in Battle of Lake 
George; 250 Mohawk warriors in force; 
King Hendrick, Mohawk chief killed. 
Johnson made a baronet and reap- 
pointed Indian superintendent. 

1756 — Fort Klock (stone house) built 
in town of St. Johnsville, Montgomery 
county. 

1756 — Fort Herkimer erected. Fort 
Herkimer (Herkimer county) stone 
Reformed Dutch church completed; 
oldest church standing in Mohawk 
valley and probably second oldest in 
state (Sleepy Hollow church antedat- 
ing it). 



1756 — Gen. Webb with British regi- 
ment and supplies passes up Mohawk 
valley to reinforce Fort Oswego; 
French capture fort; Webb returns; 
Johnson with militia and Indians re- 
turns. 

1756, August — Gen. Johnson leads 
militia and Indian party to join Gen. 
Webb's relief expedition for Fort Wil- 
liam Henry, on Lake George; expedi- 
tion fails; Fort William Henry is cap- 
tured by French. 

1756, Nov. 12 — French and Indians 
destroy Palatine village at present 
Herkimer, and massacre inhabitants. 

1758 — French and Indian attack at 
Fort Herkimer (Herkimer county) re- 
pulsed. 

1758 — April— Col. William Johnson 
calls together the Mohawk valley mi- 
litia at Canajoharie (Fort Plain) to 
repel invasion of French and Indians 
at Fort Herkimer. Enemy fled. The 
valley militia were with their com- 
mander (later Sir William Johnson) in 
many of his military expeditions in the 
French-Indian war, 1754-1763. 

1758, July 8— Sir William Johnson 
and 400 Iroquois warriors join Gen. 
Abercrombre's English army at Ti- 
conderoga where the army of 7,000 
British and 9,000 provincial troops 
were totally defeated. 

1758— Fort Stanwix (Rome) built. 

1759, Jan. 18 — Conference of Mohawk 
and Seneca chiefs with Sir William 
Johnson at Canajoharie Castle. In 
April, at same place, Iroquois pledge 
their assistance to Johnson's expedi- 
tion against Fort Niagara; 700 war- 
riors later follow Johnson to victory at 
this place. 

1759 — British-American army under 
Sir William Johnson captures French 
Fort Niagara; 700 Iroquois warriors 
and body of militia with Johnson. 

1759 — St. George's Episcopal church, 
Schenectady, built. 

1759 — Johnstown founded by Sir 
William Johnson. 

1760, June 12 — Gen. Amherst's Brit- 
ish American army of 10.000 (6,000 
provincials, 4 000 regulars) leaves 
Schenectady and passes up valley en 
route to Montreal, which it captures, 
ending French power in America; 



310 



APPENDIX 



army's supplies and munitions go 
north on Mohawk river. Sir William 
Johnson later joins expedition with 
1,300 Iroquois warriors in his force. 
Amherst's army largest ever in Mo- 
hawk valley. 

1760 — First white settlement in One- 
ida county by Johannes Roof. Settle- 
ment abandoned in 1777. Johannes 
Roof jr., first white child born in One- 
ida county, born this year. 

1763 — Caughnawaga (Fonda), Mont- 
gomery county, Reformed Dutch 
parsonage built. Church erected 1763; 
pulled down in 1868. 

1763 — Johnson Hall, Johnstown, Ful- 
ton county, built; Sir William Johnson 
removes from Fort Johnson (first call- 
ed Mount Johnson), to Johnson Hall, 
now owned by New York state. 

1764 — Herkimer (brick) house built 
by (General) Nicholas Herkimer at 
Danube, Herkimer county; now owned 
by state. 

1765 — Campbell house, Schenectady 
city, built. 

1766 — Guy Park, stone house, Am- 
sterdam, Montgomery county, built by 
Sir William Johnson for his nephew, 
Guy Johnson. 

1768 — Council between Sir W^illiam 
Johnson, British colonial authorities 
and Iroquois at Fort Stanwix in which 
Six Nations relinquish large part of 
their lands to British Crown. 

1769 — Indian Castle, Herkimer coun- 
ty, frame church built, largely for Mo- 
hawk Indians' instruction. 

1770 — Palatine Evangelical Lutheran 
(present stone) church built. 

1772 — Schoharie Reformed Dutch 
church built at Schoharie Court 
House; used as Revolutionary Ameri- 
can post — known as the Lower Fort. 

1772 — Formation of Tryon county 
and the districts of Mohawk, Canajo- 
harie, Palatine, German Flats and 
Kingsland. Canajoharie, on south 
side, and Palatine, on north side, ex- 
tended from the Noses to Little Falls. 
Johnstown made county seat; jail and 
court house built. Population of whole 
Mohawk valley estimated at about 
15,000; Tryon county, over 10,000. 

1774 — First patriotic meeting in 
Tryon county, held in Palatine. 



1774 — Sir William Johnson dies at 
Johnstown; was major-general of New 
York militia and Indian superintendent 
for all British American colonies; son, 
Sir John Johnson succeeds to his es- 
tate of 173,000 acres. 

1775-1783 — American Revolution of 
the thirteen British-American colo- ' 
nies; independence declared. 

1775 — Formation of Palatine Com- 
mittee of Safety at home of Adam 
Loucks in Palatine (first committee of 
safety in Tryon county). 

1775, May 24 — First meeting of 
Tryon County Committee of Safety 
held at William Seeber's in Canajo- 
harie district at later Fort Plain. 

1775, June 11 — Tryon County Com- 
mittee of Safety at Gose Van Al- 
stine's house, in Canajoharie, appoints 
Christopher P. Yates and John Marlatt 
as delegates to New York Provincial 
Congress. 

1775 — Col. Guy Johnson and large 
body of Mohawk Indians and Tories 
leave the valley for Canada. 

1775 — Liberty pole erected by Fort 
Herkimer patriots; later cut down by 
Tory Sheriff White. 

1776, Jan. 18 — Gen. Schuyler and 
force meets Col. Herkimer and the 
Tryon County militia at Caughnawaga; 
review held there on the ice on Mo- 
hawk river. 

1776. Jan. 19 — Gen. Schuyler's and 
Col. Herkimer's American forces dis- 
arm Johnson and 400 Tories at Johns- 
town. 

1776 — Fort Plain and Fort Plank 
(town of Minden) built; Fort Dayton 
built; I'ort Herkimer, Fort Stanwix 
(renamed Fort Schuyler), Fort Hunter 
repaired and rebuilt; Johnstown jail 
made Fort Johnstown. 

1776 — Sir John Johnson and Tory 
followers escape from Johnstown to 
Canada, as Col. Dayton's American 
party enters town to capture them. 

1776, August 22 — Tryon county bri- 
gade of American militia organized. 
Nicholas Herkimer made chief colonel. 

1777 — Fort Paris, in Palatine, Fort 
Clyde (in Freysbush district of Min- 
den), Fort Windecker in Minden, built; 
three Schoharie valley forts — upper, 
middle and lower — constructed; Upper 



IMOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



311 



Fort near Brakabeen; Middle Fort 
near Middleburg; Lower Fort at Scho- 
harie. 

1777, May — Gen. Nicholas Herkimer 
and the TryoYi County Militia go from 
Fort Plain to Cherry Valley to Otsego 
lake to hold conference with Joseph 
Brant and his Indian army at Una- 
dilla, with the idea of winning the In- 
dians to the American cause or mak- 
ing them neutral. The conference is 
ineffectual and battle is narrowly 
avoided. 

1777, August 2 — Fort Schuyler (gar- 
risoned by 750 Americans under Col. 
Peter Gansevoort) invested by British- 
Tory-Indian army under General St. 
Leger (1,600 men). 

1777, August 4 — Tryon county mi- 
litia, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Nicho- 
las Herkimer, starts march from Fort 
Dayton to relieve Fort Schuyler.* 

1777, August 6 — American national 
flag — the stars and stripes — first flown 
in battle over Fort Schuyler. 

1777, August 6— Battle of Oriskany 
between Tryon county American mi- 
litia and St. Leger's British army; 
Willetfs sortie; drawn battle; 200 
British-Tories-Indians killed or wound- 
ed; 200 Americans killed or wounded; 
General Herkimer mortally wounded; 
Tryon county militia retreats to Fort 
Herkimer; bloodiest and hardest 
fought Revolutionary battle. 

1777, August 8— Col. Willett and 
Lieut. Stockwell start from Fort 
Schuyler for Gen. Schuyler's head- 
quarters at Stillwater, on the Hudson, 
to secure relief force for Fort Schuyler. 

1777, August 12 — Col. John Harper 
rides from Schoharie to Albany to se- 
cure aid to repel McDonald's Tory and 
Indian invasion of Schoharie valley. 

1777, August 13 — Col. John Harper, 
with 28 regular American cavalrymen 
and body of Schoharie militia repulse 
and drive off Capt. McDonald's 150 In- 
dians and Tories at Vroomans; known 
as "Flockey Battle." 

1777, August 16 — General Herkimer 
dies at his home, Danube, Herkimer 
county, of wounds received at Oris- 
kany. 

1777, August 22 — St. Leger's British 
force flees from Fort Schuyler on ap- 



proach of Gen. Arnold's American 
army. 

1778, February — Council between 
New York state commissioners and 
Iroquois Indians at Johnstown. Onei- 
das and Tuscaroras renew allegiance; 
other four tribes, represented by a few 
Mohawks and Onondagas. remain hos- 
tile. 

1778 — Brant and enemy destroy An- 
druston, south of German Flatts, Her- 
kimer county. 

1778, March — Invasion of Fairfield, 
Herkimer countj', by party of Tories 
and Indians. 

1778 April — Indian and Tory raid of 
Manheim, Herkimer county. 

1778, May 1 — Company of American 
soldiers from Fort Paris, Stone Ara- 
bia, go in pursuit of party of 20 In- 
dians and Tories who raided Ephratah, 
the day before, April 30, 1778. Raiders 
escape. 

1778, May 30— Battle of Cobleskill; 
300 Indians and Tories under Brant 
ambuscade 50 American regulars and 
militia, defeat and almost annihilate 
them. 

1778, May — Springfield, Otsego coun- 
ty, raided by Brant's invaders. 

1778, May — Lieut. Matthew Wor- 
muth shot by Brant and Indians in 
Takaharawa Glen, near Cherry Valley. 
Col. Klock and the Palatine battalion 
go to Cherry Valley but Brant's party 
flees. 

1778, Sept. 1 — Brant and enemy raid 
German Flats. Helmer, American 
scout's heroic run, saves settlers; set- 
tlements destroyed. 

1778, Nov. 10 — Massacre at Cherry 
Valley by party of enemy under Wal- 
ter Butler and Brant. Col. Klock and 
the Palatine batallion of the Tryon 
county militia march to the relief of 
Cherry Valley, but the enemy escapes. 

1779, April 18 — American expedition, 
under Col. Van Schaick, sent from Fort 
Schuyler against Onondaga villages; 
Onondagas fled and Americans burned 
their villages. 

1779 — Gen. Clinton's American army 
of 1,500 men, enroute to join Gen. Sul- 
livan's army invading the Iroquois 
country, reach Canajoharie from Sche- 
nectady, the supplies, etc., coming by 



312 



APPENDIX 



river batteaux. June 17 Clinton be- 
gan moving his troops and supplies 
and batteaux (by wagon) to Otsego 
lake, which he reached June 30. At 
Canajoharie two Tory spies were 
hanged. Clinton used the regular 
roads from Canajoharie to Otsego, 
building only short stretches of new 
road. Sullivan and Clinton's Ameri- 
can army defeated enemy at Elmira, 
Aug. 29, and afterward ravaged the 
Iroquois country. 

1780 — Fort Plain blockhouse built. 

1780, May 21 — Sir John Johnson, 
commanding 500 Indians and Tories, 
raids from Johnstown to the Mohawk 
and up the valley to western Mont- 
gomery county. Buildings burned and 
patriots murdered. 

1780, Aug. 2 — Minden raid by In- 
dians and Tories under Joseph Brant. 
Col. Wemple and militia march to Fort 
Plain but enemy escapes. 

1780, Sept. 1 (about)— Fort Plain 
made headquarters of Mohawk valley 
forts. 

1780, Oct. 16 — Johnson and raiders 
enter Schoharie valley and commence 
great raid of Schoharie and Mohawk 
valleys. Feeble attacks made on Mid- 
dle and Lower Schoharie forts. 

1780, Oct. 19 — Col. John Brown and 
American force of 135 defeated at 
Stone Arabia by Sir John Johnson's 
raiders. Brown killed. Palatine raid- 
ed and buildings burned. 

1780, Oct. 19— Skirmish at Klock's 
Field, St. Johnsville town, fought by 
Gen. Van Rensselaer's American army 
and Johnson's invaders. Johnson's 
force retreats and escapes. 

1781— Fort Willett, in Dutchtown 
section of Minden, built. 

1781, June — Col. Marinus Willett ap- 
pointed commander of Mohawk valley 
military with headquarters at Fort 
Plain. 

1781, July 2— Capt. Solomon Wood- 
worth's company of rangers ambus- 
caded at Fairfield, Herkimer county, 
by Indians and but few escape; 50 
Americans, 80 Indians in Fairfield bat- 
tle; Woodworth and 37 of his men 
killed; bloodiest Revolutionary en- 
counter in Mohawk valley. 

1781, July 9— Raid at Currytown by 



500 Tories and Indians under Capt. 
Dockstader, a valley Tory. 

1781, July 10 — Battle of Sharon 
Springs. Col. Willett and 260 men 
start from Fort Plain, pursue the 
enemy and defeat them at Sharon 
Springs. 

1781, Oct. 24 — Raid by enemy under 
Ross and Butler, through town of Root 
to Mohawk river, south to Amsterdam 
and northwest to Johnstown. Col. 
Willett starts from Fort Plain in pur- 
suit with 400 men. 

1781, Oct. 25 — Battle of Johnstown; 
American victory. 

1781, Oct. 29— Battle of West Can- 
ada creek; American victory; Butler 
killed. 

1781 — Christian Schell, his wife and 
six sons make heroic defense of his 
blockhouse home (five iniles north of 
Fort Dayton), repulsing 60 Tories and 
Indians; killing 11, wounding 15, in- 
cluding enemy's captain, McDonald, 
mortally wounded and captured. 

1782 — Washington visited Schenec- 
tady. 

1782, July— Fort Herkimer neighbor- 
hood raided by enemy; repulsed from 
fort; last large raid of the war; set- 
tlements destroyed. 

1783, Feb. 9— Col. Willett's attempt 
to capture Fort Oswego fails. 

1783, April 17 — News of cessation of 
hostilities reaches Fort Plain from 
Washington's headquarters at New- 
burgh. April 18, Capt. Thompson and 
four companions start on journey with 
the peace news to British post of Fort 
Oswego. 

1783 — Population of Tryon county, 
about 4,000. 

1783, July 30— Gen. Washington and 
staff reach Fort Plain on return from 
valley trip westward to site of Fort 
Schuyler. Washington stops over 
night at house of Peter Wormuth in 
Palatine. July 31, .Washington and 
staff dine at Fort Plain and journey to 
Cherry Valley. Aug. 1, Washington's 
party visits Otsego lake and returns to 
Canajoharie, dining with Col. Clyde in 
Van Alstine house and remaining here 
over night. Aug. 2, Washington's 
party continues east on their return 
down the Mohawk valley to the Hud- 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



313 



son and thence to American army 
headquarters at Newburgh. 

1783 — Fort Herkimer made military 
depot for far western American posts. 

1784 — James Duane of New York and 
Duanesburgh, Schenectady county, 
first mayor of New York city after the 
British evacuation. 

1784 — First permanent white settle- 
ment of Oneida county; Whitestown, 
Oneida county, settled; era of immi- 
gration into valley, especially western 
end, largely from New England. 

1784 — Council at Fort Schuyler 
(Rome), Oneida county, between New 
York authorities and Six Nations; 
treaty made; great foot race concludes 
council. 

1785— Oneidas and Tuscaroras, in 
council at Fort Herkimer, cede all ter- 
ritory between Chenango and Unadilla 
rivers to New York state. 

1786 — Three houses on site of Utica; 
owned by Demuth, Christian and Cun- 
ningham. 

1786 — Population Tryon county about 
15 000; of the entire Mohawk valley, 
approximately, 20,000. 

1787 — Stone Arabia Reformed (pres- 
ent stone) church built. 

1787 — Dutch Reformed church of 
Middleburgh, Schoharie county, built. 
Former church burned in raid of 17S0. 

1788 — Council between New York 
state authorities and Iroquois Indians 
at Fort Schuyler (Rome), Oneida 
county. Indian title to New York 
state lands extinguished and territory 
opened for settlennent. 

1790 (about) — Bridge built at Little 
Falls, probably first bridge built over 
the Mohawk. 

1790 — Mail stages begin running 
from Albany to Schenectady to Johns- 
town to Canajoharie. 

1791 — Herkimer county formed. 

1792 — Stone Arabia Lutheran (pres- 
ent frame) church built at Stone Ara- 
bia, Montgomery county. 

1792 — Inland Lock & Navigation Co. 
formed. 

1793 — Bridges over East and West 
Canada creeks built and north side 
turnpike opened to Utica. 

1795 — First newspaper in the Mo- 
hawk valley established at Whites- 



town. The Utica Herald-Dispatch is 
a descendant of this paper. 

1795 — Union college, Schenectady, 
founded. 

1795 — Schoharie county formed. 

1796 — "The Mohawk Mercury," first 
newspaper established in Schenectady. 

1796 — Mohawk river navigation im- 
proved by Inland Lock Navigation Co., 
with locks and canals at Little Falls, 
Wolf's Rift, Rome, Wood Creek. 

1797 — Mohawk and Hudson turnpike, 
from Albany to Schenectady, begun. 

1798 — Schenectady made a city. 

1798 — Oneida county formed. 

1798 — Fort Hunter, Montgomery 
county, bridge built over Schoharie 
creek; Great Western turnpike built. 

1800 (about) — Manufacture of cheese 
for outside markets begun in Mohawk 
valley. Dairj^ing became a large val- 
ley industry about 1825. Cheese mak- 
ing for market purposes was intro- 
duced into the Mohawk valley by New 
England immigrants into Herkimer 
county. 

1800 — Improvement of Mohawk 
(north shore) turnpike begun. 

1800 — Population of present six Mo- 
hawk valley counties, 72,522, including 
1,352 slaves. 

1803 — First Canajoharie bridge over 
Mohawk river built. 

1803 — Fairfield academy founded at 
Fairfield, Herkimer county. Medical 
school later added; academy discon- 
tinued in 1903. 

1806 — First Fort Plain bridge over 
Mohawk river built, at "the Island." 

1807 — Woolen factory established at 
Frankfort. 

1809 — James Burr and Tallmadge Ed- 
wards start business of dressing 
leather and making leather mittens in 
Kingsboro (now Gloversville), Fulton 
county; this was the beginning of the 
leather and glove industry of Fulton 
county. Credit for inception of this 
industry has been given to others also. 

1809 — Schenectady county formed 
from Albany county. 

1812 — Hamilton college founded at 
Clinton, Oneida county; successsor to 
Indian school founded by Kirkland. 

1812-14 — Mohawk valley militia take 
part in second war with England. 



314 



APPENDIX 



1812-1814 — Great numbers of Ameri- 
can troops pass west (to defend New 
York-Canadian frontier) and return 
over Mohawk turnpike. Large amount 
of American army stores and arms 
pass west over Mohawk turnpike and 
on Mohawk river. 

1816 — Gloversville known as "Stump 
City." 

1817 — Herkimer county line moved 
east from Little Falls to a line running 
north and south from East Creek. 
Town of Danube, Herkimer county, cut 
off from Minden; town of Manheim 
cut off from Oppenheim town, including 
present St. Johnsville town. 

1819 — Business part of Schenectady 
burned. 

1820 — Manufacture of plows begun at 
Utica. 

1823— Erie canal (begun 1817) com- 
pleted eastward to Sprakers. 

1823-5— Joseph C. Yates of Schenec- 
tady elected governor of New York. 

1825, Oct. 26— Erie canal officially 
completed and Gov. Clinton starts east 
from Buffalo on the packet Seneca 
Chief, on his triumphal canal tour to 
New York. 

1825 — Era of manufacturing and 
town building begins in Mohawk val- 
ley following completion of Erie canal. 

1830 — Harry Burrell of Salisbury, 
Herkimer county, mak^s first ship- 
ment of cheese to England (10,000 
pounds). 

1831 — Eliphalet Remington jr. opens 
forge for manufacture of gun l)arrels 
and firearms at Ilion, Herkimer coun- 
ty; he had previously made same 
from 1816 on his father's farm at 
Steele's Creek, Herkimer county. 

1831 — Egbert Egberts invents a 
frame for knit goods manufacture, op- 
erated by power, at Albany, N. Y. 
Timothy Bailey aids in invention. Re- 
moved to Cohoes in 1832. 

1831 — Mohawk and Hudson (Albany 
to Schenectady) railroad opened; first 
steam passenger train trip in America. 

1832 — Utica made a city. 

1832 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Cohoes by Egberts & Bailey; 
probably the inception of the knit 
goods business of the country; the 



Mohawk valley now (1914) being the 
center of American knit goods manu- 
facture. 

1833 — Incorporation of Herkimer 
Manufacturing and Hydraulic Co. 
(capital $100,000) to erect a dam across 
West Canada creek to produce water 
power. 

1835 — Enlargement of Erie canal be- 
gun. 

1836 — Chenango canal, Utica to 
Binghamton, built; later abandoned. 

1836 — Manufacture of axes and other 
edge tools begun in Cohoes. 

1836 — Manufacture of ready-made 
clothing begun at Utica. 

1836 — Manufacture of cotton cloth 
(white goods) introduced at Cohoes by 
Peter Harmony, a Spaniard, who 
founded the Harmony Mills Co. In 
building the foundation of additional 
Mill No. 3, of this industry, in 1866, 
skeleton of a mastodon was unearthed 
at the bottom of a great "pot hole," 60 
feet deep. This mastodon is now 
mounted and on exhibition in Geologi- 
cal Hall, Albany, N. Y. 

1836, August 1 — Opening of Schenec- 
tady and Utica (later part of N. Y. C. 
& H. R.) railroad. 

1836 — Montgomery county court 
house removed from Johnstown to 
Fonda. 

1836, Oct. 19— Dedication of a mon- 
ument to Col. John Brown at Stone 
Arabia Reformed Dutch church burial 
ground; largely attended, some veter- 
ans of the Stone Arabia battle, in 
which Brown was killed, being present. 

1838 — Separation of Montgomery and 
Fulton counties and town of St. Johns- 
ville set off from town of Oppenheim, 
now in Fulton county. 

1840 — Baseball invented by (later 
General) Abner C. Doubleday at Coop- 
erstown, Otsego county; not in Mo- 
hawk valley, but near it. Fort Plain, 
Montgomery county, was Coopers- 
town's trade and road outlet to the 
Mohawk valley, in 1840. 

1840 — Manufacture of ingrain car- 
pets begun at Hagaman's Mills by 
Wait, Green & Co.; later J. Sanford & 
Son of Amsterdam. 

1842 — Manufacture of woolen goods 
begun at Little Falls. 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



315 



1843 — Stages discontinued on the 
Mohawk turnpike. 

1843-1845— William C. Bouck (Demo- 
crat) of Schoharie county, governor of 
New York. 

1S44 — Match making business estab- 
lished at Frankfort. 

1845 — First through line of steam 
canal boats started from Buffalo to 
New York. 

1845 — First college course in civil 
engineering instituted at Union col- 
lege, Schenectady. 

1845 (about) — Manufacture of yarn 
begun at Little Falls. 

1845 — Manufacture of railroad steam 
locomotives begun at Schenectady. 

1846 — First kid glove factory of 
Johnstown established. 

1846-1848— War with Mexico. 

1847 — Manufacture of worsteds be- 
gun at Utica. 

1848 — Manufacture of linseed oil be- 
gun at Amsterdam. 

1848 — Manufacture of cotton cloth 
(white goods) begun at Utica; now 
(1914) largest center of this industry 
in New York state. 

1848 — Power dam across North Chuc- 
tanunda creek built at Amsterdain. 
This water power subsequently greatly 
developed in 1855, 1865 and 1875. 

1849 — Black River canal built con- 
necting at Rome, Oneida county, with 
Erie. 

1850 — Population of Mohawk valley, 
193,575 (mostly agricultural). 

1853 — Fort Plain Seminary founded. 

1853 — New York Central railroad 
formed. 

1853-1855 — Horatio Seymour (Dem- 
ocrat) of Utica, Oneida county, gover- 
nor of New York. 

1854 — Utica and Black River railroad 
opened to Boonville; extended to Car- 
thage in 1870; now branch of New 
York Central and Hudson River rail- 
road. 

1855 (about) — First telegraph line 
constructed through Mohawk valley, 
from Albany to Utica, by New York 
Central railroad. 

1857 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Amsterdam. 

1858 — Webster Wagner of Palatine 
Bridge completes the sleeping car. 

1858, Sept. 1 — Sleeping cars, invented 



by Webster Wagner of Palatine 
Bridge, Montgomery county, begin 
running on the New York Central rail- 
road. 

1859 — Manufacture of paper and cot- 
ton bags begun at Canajoharie. 

1859 — Elevated passenger car roof, 
with side ventilators, invented by 
Webster Wagner of Palatine Bridge, 
Montgomery county. 

1861-5 — Civil war, in which many 
men from the Mohawk valley took 
part. (See Mohawk valley military sta- 
tistics.) 

1861-5 — Great numbers of Union 
troops and stores moved over New 
York Central railroad. Great quantity 
of Union army stores moved east on 
Erie canal. 

1861-5 — Remington arms works at 
Ilion (with branch at Utica) produces 
great quantity of arms for Union 
armies; as does the Watervliet arsenal, 
at the mouth of the Mohawk. 

1863 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Utica. 

1863 — Manufacture of knit goods ma- 
chinery on a large scale begun in 
Cohoes. 

1863-1865 — Horatio Seymour (Demo- 
crat) of Utica, Oneida county, governor 
of New York; one of the strongest 
Union "war governors." 

1865 — Remington breech-loading rifle 
perfected at Ilion prior to this date. 

1865 — ^Albany to Binghamton rail- 
road, through Schoharie valley, built. 
Branches to Cherry Valley and Sharon 
Springs built, 1870. This road was 
leased to the Delaware and Hudson in 
1871. 

1866 — "Athens branch" railroad, 
Schenectady to Athens, built. 

1867 — Schoharie valley railroad built. 

1867 — Wagner palace car invented by 
Webster Wagner of Palatine Bridge, 
Montgomery county; Wagner Palace 
Car Co. and Pullman Palace Car Co. 
consolidated about 1890. 

1867 — Utica, Clinton and Bingham- 
ton railroad opened from Utica to 
Hamilton. 

1868 — Blood's broom factory estab- 
lished at Amsterdam; first large 
tiroom factory of that city. 

1868 — Middleburg and Schoharie 
railroad built. 



316 



APPENDIX 



1868 — Horatio Seymour, of Utica, 
Oneida county, Democrat, defeated for 
presidency by Gen. U. S. Grant, Re- 
publican; Grant 214 electoral votes; 
Seymour 80 electoral votes. 

1869 — New York Central and Hud- 
son River Railroad incorporated, em- 
bracing railroad lines from New York 
to Buffalo. 

1869 — Cohoes made a city. 

1870 — Rome made a city. 

1870 — Completion of Fonda, Johns- 
town and Gloversville railroad; exten- 
sion of same to Northville in 1875; 
branch runs to Broadalbin, Fulton 
county. All of this railroad is in Ful- 
ton county, except the two miles from 
Fonda to Sammonsville, close to the 
Fulton-Montgomery line. 

1870 — Utica, Chenango and Susque- 
hanna railroad, from Utica to Water- 
ville and Richfield, completed. 

1872 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Herkimer. 

1872 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Little Falls. 

1875 — Alfred Dolge locates at Dolge- 
ville and begins manufacture of felt 
goods, etc. 

1873 — Manufacture of present Rem- 
ington typewriter begun at Ilion by 
Remington Arms Co., in connection 
with James Densmore, the inventor. 

1873 — "Schenectady and Duanesburg 
railroad" completed. 

1877 — Centennial celebration of the 
battle of Oriskany at Oriskany, Oneida 
county; battle monument erected here 
later. 

1878 — Manufacture of brass begun at 
Rome, Oneida county. 

1880 (about) — First (high) bicycles 
used in Mohawk valley. 

1880 (about) — Electric lights, tele- 
phones and phonographs first intro- 
duced into Mohawk valley. 

1881 — Manufacture of dairy prepar- 
ations begun at Little Falls. 

1883 — West Shore railroad completed 
west to Syracuse. 

1883— West Shore railroad shops es- 
tablished at Frankfort; later removed 
to Depew, with exception of the 
foundry. 

1885 — Mohawk and Malone railroad 
opened from Herkimer north to Ma- 



lone; now branch of the N. Y. C. and 
H. R. R. 

1885 — Amsterdam made a city. 

1885 (about) — Safety bicycles first 
used in Mohawk valley. 

1885 (about) — Period of electric trolley 
car line construction began in Mohawk 
valley. Until 1914 lines were built 
running up the river from Schenectady 
to Amsterdam, Johnstown, Gloversville 
and Fonda and from Little Falls to 
Rome. Trolley lines connect (1914) 
Utica with Clinton and with Syracuse 
and Buffalo. A trolley line runs south 
from Herkimer to Richfield Springs 
and Oneonta with branch to Coopers- 
town. Also east and north from Sche- 
nectady to Albany and Troy and Sara- 
toga Springs. 

1886 — Manufacture of desks and 
typewriter cabinets begun at Herki- 
mer. 

1887 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Fort Plain. 

1887 — Manufacture of copper begun 
at Rome, Oneida county. 

1888 — General Electric Co. moves to 
Schenectady. 

1888 (about) —Building of Little 
Falls and Dolgeville railroad. 

1890 — Gloversville made a city. 

1890 (about) — Manufacture of food 
stuffs begun at Canajoharie. 

1892 — Report of Martin Schenck, 
state engineer and surveyor, advocat- 
ing a Barge canal. Hon. Martin 
Schenck was a native of Palatine, 
Montgomery county. 

1892 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at St. Johnsville. 

1895 — Johnstown made a city. 

1895 — Little Falls made a city. 

1895 (about) — Automobiles first used 
in Mohawk valley. 

1895 — First college course in electri- 
cal engineering instituted at Union 
college, Schenectady. 

1896 — Monument erected over grave 
of General Nicholas Herkimer at Dan- 
ube, Herkimer county. 

1898 — Electrical development of East 
Creek water power at East Creek 
(2,000 H. P. generated). Later devel- 
opment at Dolgeville (1897) and Ing- 
hams Mills (1912). 

1898 — Spanish-American war; some 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



817 



valley men enlisted in American army. 

1905 — Work begun on Erie division 
of the Barge canal. 

1907 — Unveiling of statue of General 
Herkimer at Herkimer; Burr Miller, 
sculptor; Warner Miller, donor; occa- 
sion, Herkimer village's centennial. 

1908— William H. Taft of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, elected president and James S. 
Sherman of Utica (Oneida county), 
New York, elected vice president of 
the United States on the Republican 
national ticket. 

1909 — 18,457 farms in six Mohawk 
valley counties, producing $30,000,000 
annually, exclusive of lumber. 

1910 — Population of six Mohawk val- 
ley counties 424,704. That of New 
York state, 9,113,614. That of the 
United States, 91,972,266. 

1911^Centennial celebration of Lit- 
tle Falls as a village. 

1911 — Mohawk Hydro-Electric com- 
pany completes dams and plants at 
Pecks Pond, Caroga and Ephratah; line 
run to Johnstown-Gloversville; line 
run to Fort Plain in 1912. 

1911 — Harry N. Atwood alights at 
Nelliston, after flight of 95 miles from 
near Syracuse, en route by aeroplane 
from St. Louis to New York. 

1912— Wm. H. Taft of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, and James S. Sherman of Utica 
(Oneida county). New York, renomi- 
nated for president and vice president 
on the Republican national ticket. 
James S. Sherman died in October, 
1912, before the election. Wilson, 
Dem., elected; Taft, Rep., and Roose- 
velt, Prog., defeated. 

1912 — 1,321 factories with 88,271 op- 
eratives in six Mohawk valley coun- 
ties, producing goods valued at about 
$200,000,000 annually. Chief manufac- 
tures: Knit goods, electrical appar- 
atus, leather gloves, white goods, rugs 
and carpets. 

1912 — Route of Gen. Herkimer, from 
Danube to Oriskany, marked by bronze 
tablets, under the auspices of the 
Daughters of the American Revolu- 
tion. 

1912 — Dam and plant for hydro- 
electric power development, built at 
Inghams Mills on East creek, in town 
of Manheim, Herkimer county. 



1914 — General Herkimer house in 
Danube, Herkimer county, purchased 
by state and placed under the care of 
the Daughters of the American Revo- 
lution and the German-American Al- 
liance. 

1914 — Second war with Mexico. Vera 
Cruz occupied but no official declara- 
tion of war as yet (April 28, 1914) and 
none of the valley militia as yet called 
out for service. 



WESTERN MONTGOMERY 
COUNTY DATES. 

The following dates have an especial 
reference to Western Montgomery 
county: 

1750 — Reformed Dutch church 
(frame) of Canajoharie built at Sand 
Hill, later Fort Plain. 

1756 — Reformed Dutch church built 
in town of St. Johnsville. 

1790 — Dutch Reformed church or- 
ganized at Currytown, being the first 
church body in the town of Root. 

1794 — Free Will Baptist church or- 
ganized, west of Ames, being the first 
known church organization in Canajo- 
harie town. 

1795, March 31 — Union academy of 
Palatine (at Stone Arabia) incorpor- 
ated by the State Regents. Building 
built in 1799, burned in 1807 and never 
rebuilt. 

1798 — Town of Minden formed from 
Canajoharie. 

1799 — Funeral services in honor of 
General Washington held at the Re- 
formed Dutch church at Sand Hill 
(Fort Plain). 

1804 — St. John's Reformed Dutch 
church moves from its original loca- 
tion, east of St. Johnsville, to that vil- 
lage. 

1808 — Town of Oppenheim (includ- 
ing present St. Johnsville town) set off 
from Palatine. 

1810 — Cornplanter, with Indian suite, 
visits relatives at Fort Plain, where 
Cornplanter raided with Brant's party 
in 1780. 

1818— Union church built at Canajo- 
harie village, the first there erected. 

1823 — Town of Root formed. 

1825, Oct. 26— Celel)ration of comple- 



318 



APPENDIX 



tion of Erie canal. Dinner and ball in 
celebration at Fort Plain. Oct. 31, 
Governor Clinton and partj- on packet, 
Seneca Chief, pass east on their trium- 
phal tour of Erie. 

1825 — First newspaper in western 
Montgomery county, the "Telegraph," 
established at Canajoharie. 

1827 — First existing newspaper in 
western Montgomery county, the Fort 
Plain Watch Tower, established — now 
known as the Mohawk Valley Register 
(oldest paper in Montgomery county in 
1914). 

1829 — Canajoharie village incorpor- 
ated. 

1829 — First Fort Plain bridge at 
present site built over Mohawk river. 

1832 — Fort Plain village incorpor- 
ated. 

1834 — Reformed Dutch church at 
Sand Hill removed to Fort Plain, end- 
ing Sand Hill as a hamlet. 

1849 — Freysbush district taken from 
town of Canajoharie and added to 
Minden, making last change in terri- 
tory of five western Montgomery 
towns. 

1852 — First St. Johnsville bridge 
across Mohawk river built. 

1857 — St. Johnsville village incor- 
porated. 

1865 — Furniture manufacturing l)e- 
gun at Fort Plain. 

1867 — Palatine Bridge village incor- 
porated. 

1870 — Manufacture of springs and 
axles begun at Fort Plain. Factory 
removed to Chicago Heights, 111., in 
1894. Factory came from Springfield 
to Fort Plain. 

1878 — Nelliston village incorporated. 

1879 — Clinton Liberal Institute re- 
moved to Fort Plain, supplanting the 
Fort Plain Seminary on Seminary Hill; 
C. L. I. burned 1900. 

1880 (about) — Manufacture of silk 
begun at Fort Plain. 

1889 — Manufacture of player pianos 
and piano actions begun at St. Johns- 
ville. 

1898— First Fort Plain street fair 
held. 

1900— Clinton Liberal Institute de- 
stroyed by fire; armory and gymnas- 
ium uninjured. Institute not rebuilt. 



MOHAWK VALLEY MILITARY 
STATISTICS. 

The following Mohawk valley mili- 
tary statistics include not only mili- 
tary operations along the Mohawk, but 
those in which valley men were en- 
gaged elsewhere: 

Early French- Indian Hostilities — 
1609-1689. 

1609 — Champlain and Canadian In- 
dians defeat Mohawks on west shore of 
Lake Champlain, near Ticonderoga; 
two Mohawk chiefs killed; action 
makes Iroquois enemies of French and 
friends of Dutch and English. 

1666 — The Mohawk villages burned 
l)y French-Indian Canadian expedi- 
tion; Mohawks escape into the woods. 

Indian Wars. 

1669, August 9— Battle of Tower- 
eune, near Hoffmans, Schenectady 
county, in which Mohawks defeat Mo- 
hicans and gain mastery of valley. 
King William's War— 1689-1697. 

1689 — Mohawks raid Montreal. 

1690 — Schenectady burned by French 
and Indians; population massacred or 
captured. 

1692 — French-Indian war party burns 
Oneida castle; Onondagos burn their 
^'illag■es and escape to woods. 

1693 — French-Indian-Canadian expe- 
dition, under Count Frontenac, attacks, 
captures and burns the three Mohawk 
castles; hard fight at upper castle; 300 
Mohawks made prisoners; Albany mi- 
litia, under Col. Peter Schuyler, pur- 
sued and retook 50 captives. 

King George's War— 1743-1748. 

1746, August 4 — Party sent by Col. 
William Johnson against French and 
Indians ambushed at Chambly. 

1748 — Battle of Beukendaal, Glenville 
town, Schenectady county, in which 
valley American militia were ambus- 
caded by Canadian Indians and Amer- 
ican force almost destroyed. Beuken- 
daal means, in Dutch, Beechdale. 
Seven Ye(ars War — 1754-1760. 

During the Seven Years War (which 
is also called the French and Indian 
War), large bodies of British-Ameri- 
can troops passed up and down the 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



319 



valley, the Mohawk river being largely 
used for the transportation of their 
supplies and munitions. 

1755 — British-American army under 
Major-Gen. William Johnson defeats 
French at Lake George — Mohawks and 
militia with Johnson. 

1756 — Attack by French and Indians 
at German Flats (Herkimer), settle- 
ment destroyed and inhabitants cap- 
tured or massacred. 

1756 — Gen. Webb with British regi- 
ment and supplies passes up Mohawk 
valley to reinforce Fort Oswego; 
French capture fort; Webb returns; 
Johnson with militia and Indians re- 
turns. 

1756, August — Gen. Johnson leads 
party of Indians and militia to join 
Gen. Webb's expedition for relief of 
Fort William Henry, at the head of 
Lake George; expedition fails through 
Webb's incapacity and Fort William 
Henry is captured by French. 

1758, April — Gen. William Johnson 
calls together the Mohawk valley mi- 
litia at Fort Canajoharie (present In- 
dian Castle) to repel invasion of 
French and Indians at Fort Herkimer. 
Enemy repulsed from Fort Herkimer 
by garrison and flees back to Canada. 

1758, July 9— Johnson and 400 Iro- 
quois warriors at disastrous defeat by 
French of Gen. Abercombie's British- 
American army before Fort Ticon- 
deroga. 

1758 — Repulse of French and Indians 
from Fort Herkimer. 

1758^British-American army under 
Sir William Johnson captures French 
Fort Niagara; 1,000 Iroquois warriors 
and body of militia with Johnson. 

1760 — Gen. Amherst's British-Amer- 
ican army of 10,000 passes up Mohawk 
to conquest of Montreal. Johnson 
with 1,300 Iroquois join army later. 

Revolution— 1775- 1783. 

Only the main military events and 
movements of the Revolution are here 
given : 

1777, August 6— Battle of Oriskany 
at Oriskany, Oneida county, between 
Tryon County Militia, commanded by 
General Herkimer, and British-Tory- 
Indian army commanded by General 



St. Leger; drawn battle, both armies 
retire from field; aim of Americans to 
relieve Fort Schuyler unsuccessful. 

1777, August 6— Sortie by Willett's 
command from Fort Schuyler (now 
Rome, Oneida county) against St. 
Lager's camp; American success; 
stars and stripes first flown here in 
battle. 

1777, August 13— Battle of Flockey, 
Vroomans, Schoharie county, where 
American regulars and Schoharie mi- 
litia under Col. Harper drive off invad- 
ing force of enemy under Capt. Mc- 
Donald; American success. 

1778, May 30— Battle of Cobleskill, 
Schoharie county; ambuscade of 50 
Americans by Brant and 300 Indians; 
American defeat. 

1778, Nov. 10— Cherry Valley mas- 
sacre. Place attacked by enemy un- 
der Butler and Brant. 

1778, Sept. 1— German Flatts raided 
by enemy under Brant. 

1779, June 19 — Gen. Clinton and Am- 
erican army of 1,500 start overland 
march from Canajoharie to Otsego 
lake to join Gen. Sullivan's army at 
Tioga, August 22; defeat enemy at 
present Elmira, August 29; Indian 
country later devastated. 

1780, May 21 — Johnson and enemy 
raid Johnstown and Caughnawaga 
neighborhoods. American force pur- 
sues; Johnson escapes. 

1780, August 2 — Brant and enemy 
raid in Minden about Fort Plain; mi- 
litia gathers; enemy escapes. 

1780, Oct. 16 — Johnson and enemy 
pass Upper Fort on the Schoharie and 
begin raid of Schoharie and Mohawk 
valleys, ending with action at Klock's 
Field, Oct. 19. 

1780, Oct. 19— Battle of Stone Arabia, 
Palatine town, Montgomery county; 
defeat of American force of 140 men 
under Col. Brown by Johnson's raid- 
ers, numbering about 800. 

1780, Oct. 19— Battle of Klock's Field 
or Battle of St. Johnsville (Montgom- 
ery county). Virtually a skirmish be- 
tween Van Rensselaer's American mi- 
litia (numbering 1,500) and Johnson's 
raiders (numbering 800) ; American 
success; enemy flees and escapes. 

1781, July 2 — Battle of Fairfield, 



320 



APPENDIX 



Herkimer county. Capt. Woodworth's 
company of 50 American rangers, am- 
buscaded by 80 Indians and patriot 
force nearly destroyed — killed or cap- 
tured; American defeat — 38 killed out 
of 50; bloodiest valley Revolutionary 
action. 

1781, July 9 — Currytown, Montgom- 
ery county, raided by enemy under 
Dockstader. 

1781, July 10 — Battle of Sharon 
Springs, Schoharie county, between 250 
American militia under Col. Willett 
and 500 of enemy under Capt. Dock- 
stader; American success; enemy 
driven off. 

1781, Oct. 24 — Enemy under Ross 
and Butler begin I'aid of Montgomery 
and Fulton counties, ending with battle 
of Butler's Ford, West Canada creek, 
Oct. 29. 

1781, Oct. 25 — Battle of Johnstown, 
Fulton county, between 400 Americans 
under Col. Willett and Maj. Rowley 
and 700 British-Tory-Indian raiders 
under Ross and Butler; American suc- 
cess; enemy driven off. 

1781, Oct. 29 — Battle of Butler's 
Ford, West Canada creek, Herkimer 
county, between 400 American pursu- 
ing force under Col. Willett and 700 of 
enemy under Ross and Butler, retreat- 
ing from Johnstown; American vic- 
tory; enemy driven off and Butler 
killed. 

1782, July — Enemy raids Fort Her- 
kimer district; repulsed from fort. 

1783, Feb. 9 — American force under 
Col. Willett, fails on expedition to sur- 
prise British Fort Oswego; guides lost; 
expedition discovered; Americans re- 
turn to Mohawk river. 

War of 1812-1814. 

Following is a record of the passing 
and arrival of American troops at 
Utica during the second war with 
England, known as the War of 1812. 
It will serve to show how the Mohawk 
valley was used as a military road just 
as the Mohawk river was used as a 
military waterway for the transporta- 
tion of arms, munitions and supplies 
for the American armies on the New 
York frontier: 

1812, August, Flying Artillery (130 



men) from Lancaster, Pa.; September, 
800 drafted men under Gen. Dodge of 
Johnstown; Sept. 20, Fifth U. S. regi- 
ment; Sept. 22, 2 companies light ar- 
tillery; Sept. 30, 90 sailors bound for 
Sackett's Harbor; Oct. 5, 150 sailors, 
150 wagons, on their way to Buffalo; 
Oct. 6, 130 U. S. soldiers, 20 wagons; 
Oct. 10, 130 U. S. marines; Oct. 13, 
parties of marines; Oct. 14, "Republi- 
can Greens" (190 men); Oct. 23, 23d 
U. S. regiment (300 men) from Albany; 
130 Held artillery. 

1813, April 6, 150 light horse reach 
Utica from Sackett's Harbor, which 
they have been compelled to leave on 
account of lack of provisions, and on 
April 13, 150 more light horse reach 
Utica, probably for the same reason; 
April 15, 200 light artillery moving 
west; April 24-25, 500 soldiers, 100 
sailors for Sackett's Harbor; 500 horse 
and foot for Buffalo; May 12, 2d U. S. 
regiment on way to front; May 15 and 
IG, 900 Massachusetts soldiers on way 
to front; May 23, 600, 21st U. S. for 
west; May 26, 750 U. S. soldiers for 
west; June 15, 14th U. S. (300 men) 
and a rifle company for the front; 
June 16, 49th English regiment, pris- 
oners of war, pass down the valley; 
June (latter part), numbers of sol- 
diers and sailors en route to defense of 
Sackett's Harbor; July 10, 3d and 25th 
U. S. (270 men) ; Aug. 9, 100 Canadian 
and British prisoners on their way 
down the valley under guard; sum- 
mer and autumn, constant passing east 
and west of American soldiers, sailors 
and militia; Oct. 15, 2 companies Wal- 
leville's English regiment (captured on 
lake transports) went east as prison- 
ers under guard; Oct. 31, 800 U. S. 
regulars from Fort George, going west; 
Nov. 23, Com. Oliver Hazard Perry 
(hero of Lake Erie naval battle) given 
great public dinner at Utica, and 
passes down Mohawk in a batteaux, 
everywhere given a great reception. 

The 10th, 11th and 13th (Mohawk 
valley militia) regiments of the Fourth 
brigade of New York were engaged in 
this war on the St. Lawrence and Ni- 
agara frontiers. See Chapter IX., 
Series II., on the War of 1812. 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



321 



Mexican War— 1846-1848. 

No valley military organizations 
took part in this conflict. Two regi- 
ments from New York are reported to 
have been engaged; they were regular 
army regiments. 

Civil War— 1861-1865. 

1861-1865 — The following is a record 
of the Civil war military organizations 
in which the Union soldiers of the six 
valley counties were enrolled. It is 
compiled from county histories. Dur- 
ing the Civil war, thousands of troops 
went to the front over the New York 
Central railroad and great quantities 
of supplies went forward to the Union 
armies over the Erie canal and on the 
railroad. 

Oneida county: The principal Civil 
war organizations recruited from this 
county were: 14th infantry; 26th in- 
fantry; 81st infantry (350 men); 97th 
(from Oneida, Lewis, Herkimer and 
Fulton); 117th infantry; 146th infan- 
try. Oneida county had representa- 
tion also in 50th (engineers), 53d, 57th, 
61st, 68th, 71st, 75th, 76th, 78th, 81st, 
93d, 101st infantry regiments, 3d, 8th, 
11th, 13th, 15th, 20th, 22d, 24th cav- 
alry; the Oneida cavalry, 1st mounted 
rifles, 1st, 2d, 3d, 13th, 14th, 16th ar- 
tillery. 

Herkimer county: The principal 
Civil war organizations largely re- 
cruited from this county were 34th in- 
fantry, known as "the Herkimer coun- 
ty regiment," five companies coming 
from this county. 97th infantry. Cos. 
C, D, E, F and I were largely of Her- 
kimer county men. 121st infantry, 
from Herkimer and Otsego counties. 
152d regiment from Otsego and Her- 
kimer counties (360 men from Herki- 
mer). 16th artillery (over 100 men). 
Other organizations in which Herki- 
mer men were represented were 14th 
infantry, 26th infantry, 1st light ar- 
tillery (Battery A), 2d light artillery 
(Battery K), 2d rifles. 18th N. Y. cav- 
alry. 



Montgomery county: The principal 
Civil war organizations in which Mont- 
gomery county was represented are the 
following: 115th infantry, 421 men; 
153d infantry, 329 men; 32d infantry 
(Cos. B and D), 130 men; 43d infantry 
(Co. E), 69 men; 1st artillery (Co. K), 
65 men; 16th artillery, 36 men; 13th 
artillery, 33 men. 

Fulton county: The principal Civil 
war organizations in which Fulton 
county was represented are the fol- 
lowing: 153d infantry, 269 men; 115th 
infantry, 162 men; 77th infantry, 101 
men; 10th cavalry (Co. I), 92 men; 
13th artillery, 71 men; 97th infantry, 
53 men; 93d infantry (Co. D), 51 men; 
2d cavalry, 31 men. 

Schoharie county: The principal 
Civil war organizations from Scho- 
harie county were 134th regiment, N. 
Y. S. v., recruited from Schoharie and 
Schenectady counties. This might fit- 
tingly be called "the Schoharie county 
regiment," as it contained about 800 
men from Schoharie. Co. I, 76th N. Y. 
S. v., had about 80 Schoharie county 
men and several hundred other Scho- 
harie men were enlisted in many other 
organizations. 

Schenectady county: The principal 
Civil war organizations in which 
Schenectady county was represented 
are: 30th infantry, 44 men; 77th in- 
fantry, 50 men; 43d infantry, 31 men; 
2d cavalry, 110 men; 69th infantry, 55 
men; 18th infantry, 141 men; 134th in- 
fantry, about 380 men; 91st infantry, 
156 men; 13th cavalry, 58 men; 25th 
cavalry, 1st rifles, 13th artillery, 177th 
infantry, 192d infantry. 

Spanish-American War — 1898. 

Several military organizations and a 
number of Mohawk valley men were 
enlisted in the American army. 

Second War With Mexico. 

1914 — Second war with Mexico. Vera 
Cruz occupied but no official declara- 
tion of war as yet (April 28, 1914) and 
none of the valley militia as yet called 
out for service. 



322 



APPENDIX 



FIFTEEN DATES FOR SCHOOL USE 

Following are fifteen Mohawk val- 
ley principal dates, suggested for 
school use. They form a brief and 
easily understood historj' of the Mo- 
hawk valley. They cover the six Mo- 
hawk valley counties of Oneida, Her- 
kimer, Montgomery, Fulton, Schoharie 
and Schenectady and are suitable for 
use in any of the schools of these 
counties. It is here suggested that stu- 
dents learn first the main date, and 
later the sul)sidiary matter. 
1661 — Schenectady settled by Dutch; 
burned by French and Indian war 
party in 1690 and its people killed or 
captured; rebuilt shortly after. 
1713 — Mohawk and Schoharie valleys 

settled by Palatine Germans. 
1753-1760— Seven Years War. Mo- 
hawk Indians and valley militia take 
part in victories of British-American 
armies (under Sir William Johnson) 
at Lake George and Niagara; also in 
other military movements. Burnets- 
field (present Herkimer) burned and 
its people generally massacred or 
captured in 1756. French and Indian 
attack on Fort Herkimer repulsed in 
1758. Large bodies of British and 
American troops passed up and 
down the valley; munitions and sup- 
plies going on the river. In 1760, 
Gen. Amherst's British-American 
army of 10,000 men went north, by 
way of the Mohawk valley, and cap- 
tured Montreal from the French, 
which ended the war. Quebec was 
taken from the French by the En- 
glish under Wolfe in 1759. The peo- 
ple of the Mohawk valley were in al- 
most constant danger of massacre, 
from 1661 to 1760, by French and 
Indian scalping parties. 
1775-1783— Revolutionary War. Chief 
battles in the Mohawk valley were 
Oriskany, 1777 (drawn battle) ; 
Stone Arabia, 1780 (American de- 
feat) ; Klock's Field or St. Johnsville, 
1781 (American victory); Sharon 
Springs, 1781 (American victory) ; 
Johnstown, 1781 (American vic- 
tory) ; West Canada Creek or 
Butlers Ford, 1781 (American 
victory). There were many skir- 



mishes, raids and massacres in the 
Mohawk valley during these years. 
The valley American troops made a 
generallly successful defense of the 
valley but the country and its people 
suffered from invasion more than in 
any other part of the thirteen colo- 
nies; Mohawks left valley, with 
the Johnsons, and went to Canada 
in 1775, where they enlisted and 
fought barbarously, under the Brit- 
ish flag, against their old American 
valley neighbors, as did also most of 
the valley Tories. 

1777, August 6 — Battle of Oriskany be- 
tween the Tryon County American 
militia (800 men) and St. Leger's 
British - Tory - Indian army (1,600 
men) ; drawn battle and the hardest 
fought action of the Revolution; 
successful American sortie from 
Fort Schuyler, over which stars and 
stripes were first flown in battle on 
this day. 

1783 — Washington makes a tour of the 
Mohawk valley; he visited Schenec- 
tady in 1782. 

1784 — Oneida county permanently set- 
tled at Whitestown; a large immi- 
gration began in this year into and 
through the Mohawk valley from 
New England and other American 
colonies. Utica and Rome were 
permanently settled about 1785. 

1796 — ■ Mohawk river navigation im- 
proved by locks and canals at Little 
Falls, Wolf's Rift, Rome and Wood 
Creek; this work was done bj^ the 
Inland Lock and Navigation Co.; 
formed in 1792. 

1800 — Mohawk (north shore) turnpike 
begun from Schenectady to Utica; 
period of the stage coach and great 
freight wagons. A turnpike then ran 
from Albany to Buffalo, now used 
largely as an automobile road. 

1812-1814— Second War with England; 
10th, 11th and 13th (Mohawk valley) 
militia regiments engage in defense 
of New York frontier. Large bodies 
of troops pass up and down Mohawk 
turnpikes; army supplies and muni- 
tions go west on river boats and on 
turnpike wagons. 

1817-1825— Construction of Erie canal 
from Buffalo to Albany; length of 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



323 



canal, 387 miles; 72 locks; 7 feet 
deep; 70 feet surface width; length 
of Erie canal through Mohawk val- 
ley (Cohoes to Rome) about 110 
miles. An era of town building, 
manufacturing and dairy production 
for outside markets began in the 
valley, following the construction of 
the Erie canal. From 1862 until 
al^andonment of Erie for Barge 
canal boats 98x17 1/2x6 and of 240 tons 
were in use. 

1831 — -Mohawk and Hudson railroad 
(17 miles long), from Albany to 
Schenectady completed. This was 
the first steam passenger railroad in 
America. The Utica to Schenectady 
railroad was completed August 1, 
1836, and both roads became parts of 
the New York Central and Hudson 
River railroad in 1869. West Shore 
railroad was completed 1883, and is 
now part of N. Y. C. & H. R. R.R. 

1861-5— Civil War or War of the 
Rebellion, during which thousands of 
Mohawk valley men enlisted in the 
Union armies; many thousands of 
Union troops passed over the New 
York Central railroad and enormous 
quantities of army supplies and mu- 
nitions passed east over the railroad 
and the Erie canal. Remington 
Arms factories at Ilion and Utica 
produced great amount of arms for 
the Union army, as also did the 
Watervliet arsenal. 

1905 — Construction of Erie branch of 
the New York State Barge canal be- 
gun. Erie branch is 323 miles long 
with 35 locks, and utilizes the chan- 
nel of the Mohawk river from Rome 
to Waterford, about 110 miles. Great 
reservoirs for Barge canal water 
storage purposes have been con- 
structed at Delta, Oneida county, 
and at Hinckley, the latter being in 
Oneida and Herkimer counties, and 
also being the largest body of water 
(nine miles long) in the Mohawk 
valley. Barge canal types of boats 
are not (1914) definitely decided 
upon. They may be of from 3,000 
tons downward, the idea being for 
one motor engine or power boat to 
draw about 3,000 tons through the 
locks without breaking up the boats. 



Boats of 1,500 tons to run tandem or 
of about 800 tons to run in quadrup- 
lets (one to be a power boat) are 
probable types. 
1911 — Aeroplane flight of Atwood 
through the Mohawk valley, en route 
from St. Louis to New York, 1,266 
miles. Atwood flew from near Syra- 
cuse to Nelliston, Montgomery coun- 
ty, 95 miles, August 22, 1911, spend- 
ing the night at Fort Plain, across 
the Mohawk; he flew from Nelliston 
to Castleton, on the Hudson, 05 miles, 
August 23, with a short stop for re- 
pairs, in the morning, near Glen, 
Montgomery county. 



Statistical Summary (for school use; 
also see map; the figures are from the 
1910 U. S. census). 

The six Mohawk valley counties: 

Oneida; county seat, Utica. 

Herkimer; county seat, Herkimer. 

Montgomery; county seat, Fonda. 

Fulton; county seat, Johnstown. 

Schoharie; county seat, Schoharie. 

Schenectady; county seat, Schenec- 
tady. 

Area six Mohawk valley counties (in 
round numbers), 2,860,000 acres, di- 
vided as follows: Oneida, 800,000; 
Herkimer, 934,000; Montgomery, 355,- 
000; Fulton, 330,000; Schoharie, 410,- 
000; Schenectady, 132,000. 

Population, six Mohawk valley coun- 
ties, census of 1910 (in round num- 
bers), 425,000, divided as follows: One- 
ida, 154,000; Herkimer, 56,000; Mont- 
gomery, 58,000; Pulton, 45,000; Scho- 
harie, 24,000; Schenectady, 88,000. 

Largest cities, census of 1910 (in 
round numbers), Utica, 74,000; Sche- 
nectady, 73,000. Other cities in order, 
Amsterdam, Gloversville, Rome, Little 
Falls, Johnstown. Cohoes, near the 
mouth of the Mohawk, is a city of the 
valley, but is not in one of the six Mo- 
hawk valley counties, being located in 
Albany county. 

Number of farms in six Mohawk 
valley counties (in round numbers), 
18,000, raising $30,000,000 worth of pro- 
ducts yearly. 

Number of factories in six Mohawk 
valley counties (in round numbers), 
1,300, with 88,000 employes, producing 



324 



APPENDIX 



about $200,000,000 worth of goods 
yearly. Principal manufactures: Knit 
goods, electrical apparatus, leather 
gloves, white goods, rugs and carpets. 



CHRONOLOGY OF MOHAWK VAL- 
LEY PRE - REVOLUTIONARY 
HOUSES AND CHURCHES. 

Following is a list of the principal 
pre-Revolutionary houses and churches 
of the Mohawk valley, with approxi- 
mate date of erection. Many of the 
best houses along the Mohawk were 
destroyed by the Indian and Tory raids 
from 1777-1782. Where a house is 
called a fort it means it was strongly 
built to resist attack or was palisaded. 
None of these "forts," or fortified 
houses, were actual army posts. 

This does not include all the pre- 
Revolutionary houses standing in the 
Mohawk valley; there are a number of 
others; but the following are generally 
recognized as the most important and 
typical of their time. 

Schenectady county, with Albany and 
Saratoga counties, embraces about 30 
miles of the lower Mohawk valley. 
During the Revolution this section did 
not suffer from Tory and Indian raids, 
as did the other five Mohawk valley 
counties, and consequently more an- 
cient structures there remain. For some 
of these pre-Revolutionary houses no 
dates are known or available to the 
editor of this work and consequentlj' 
none are given. All however, were 
constructed prior to the close of the 
Revolutionary war. The editor of this 
work desires to express his indebted- 
ness to Miss Marion Abbott of Fonda, 
author of a most interesting and en- 
tertaining essay on "The Remaining 
Revolutionary Residences of the Mo- 
hawk Valley." This essay was award- 
ed the prize offered to students of the 
Fonda High school by Caughnawaga 
chapter, D. A. R., of that village, and 
was published in the Fonda Democrat. 

The following gives a list of 33 pre- 
Revolutionary Mohawk valley houses. 
As before stated there are others, some 
of which, however, are difficult to au- 
thenticate. There are two or three 
small structures at Sand Hill, Fort 



Plain, which possibly antedate the 
Revolution. One is a small frame 
building now used as a barn, standing 
near the beginning of the Dutchtown 
road, and which is said to have been 
the parsonage of the old "Canajoharie 
(now Fort Plain) Reformed Dutch 
church." Probably research could in- 
crease the number of pre-Revolution- 
ary Mohawk valley residences to 50 or 
more. The following 33 are the best 
known of these interesting seventeenth 
and eighteenth century valley resi- 
dences: 

1670 — Jan Mabie stone house, Rotter- 
dam, Schenectady county. This is the 
oldest existing building in the Mohawk 
valley. 168G is also given as the date 
of its erection. 

1680 (about) — Vrooman brick house, 
Schenectady city. 

1700 (or before) — ^ Van Guysling 
house, Rotterdam, Schenectady county; 
also said to have been built in 1664. 

1711 — Johannes Peek house, Schen- 
ectady county. 

1712 — Fort Hunter, Montgomery 
county. Queen Anne (Episcopal) par- 
sonage of stone; chapel was destroyed 
in building Erie canal 1817-1825. 

1713 — Glen Sanders house, Scotia, 
Schenectady county. This is the old- 
est large house standing in the valley; 
still (1914) in Sanders family. 

1720 (about)— Toll (brick) house, 
Glenville town, Schenectady county. 

1730 — Abraham Glen house, Scotia, 
Schenectady county. 

1735 — Governor Yates brick house, 
Schenectady city. 

1736 — Arent Bradt house, Rotterdam, 
Schenectady county. 

1739 — Fort Frey (stone house). Pala- 
tine Bridge, Montgomery county (still 
in Frey family). 

1742 — Fort Johnson (stone), Mont- 
gomery county; built by Sir William 
Johnson and originally called Mount 
Johnson; Johnson's second house; 
home of Montgomery County Histori- 
cal society. Johnson lived here from 
1742 until 1763 when he removed to 
Johnson Hall. 

1743 — Butler (frame) house, Mohawk 
town, Montgomery county. 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



325 



1750 — Wagner stone house, Palatine 
town, Montgomery county; forms part 
of house now standing. 

1750 (about) — Van Alstine stone house, 
Canajoharie, Montgomery county. 
Washington was probably here in 
1783. This house is sometimes erron- 
eously called Fort Rensselaer. 

1752 — Ehle (stone) house, Nelliston, 
Montgomery county; house now (1914) 
in ruins. 

1756 — Fort Klock (stone house), St. 
Johnsville town, Montgomery county; 
also called Fort House, from its 
builder. 

1762 — Van Schaick (brick) house, 
Van Schaick Island, Cohoes city, Al- 
bany county. This house v as Ameri- 
can Revolutionary headquarters for a 
time during the Saratoga campaign of 
1777, when the American Army of the 
North had fallen back to the mouth of 
the Mohawk. 

1763 — Drumm house, Johnstown city. 

1763 — ^Johnson Hall (frame), Johns- 
town, Fulton county; built by Sir Wm. 
Johnson; his third house. Owned by 
New York state. Johnson lived here 
from 1763 until his death, in 1774. 

1764 — Herkimer (brick) house, Dan- 
ube, Herkimer county; built by (later 
General) Nicholas Herkimer; owned by 
New York state. 

1765 — Campbell house, Schenectady 
city. 

1766 — Guy Park (stone), Amsterdam, 
Montgomery county; built by Sir Wm. 
Johnson for his nephew, Guy Johnson; 
owned by city of Amsterdam. 

1767 (before) — I^ansing house, Co- 
hoes city; altered from original form. 

1767 (before) — Derek Hemstreet 
house, Cohoes city; altered from origi- 
nal form. 

Schermerhorn house, Schenectady 
county; still in Schermerhorn family 
(1914). 

Voorhees house, Amsterdam, Mont- 
gomery county; built by Garret Rose- 
boom and used as a tavern during old 
Mohawk turnpike days. 

Bergen house, Sand Flats, Mohawk 
township, Montgomery county; altered 
from original form. 

DeGraff (frame) house, Glenville 



town, Schenectady county; now (1914) 
in ruins. 

Cochran house, Palatine town, Mont- 
gomery county; home of Dr. John 
Cochran, surgeon general of the Am- 
erican Revolutionary army. 

General William North house, 
Duanesburgh town, Schenectady coun- 
ty; Gen. North was an aide of Baron 
Steuben in the Continental American 
army and a son-in-law of Judge 
Duane. 

Judge James Duane house, Duanes- 
burgh town, Schenectady county; also 
called Featherstonhough house. Judge 
Duane was a great Revolutionary Am- 
erican jurist and, in 1784, first mayor 
of New York city after the British 
evacuation. 

There are but five existing pre-Rev- 
olutionary churches in the Mohawk 
valley and four of these are of stone 
construction, which speaks well for the 
early valley men. Many houses of 
worship were destroyed by the enemy 
during the war for independence, 1777- 
1782. The churches built before the 
Revolution and now standing are: 

1756 — Fort Herkimer Reformed 
(Dutch) stone church, Fort Herkimer, 
Herkimer county. 

1759 — St. George's (Episcopal) stone 
church, Schenectady city. 

1769 — Indian Castle (frame) Union 
church; at Indian Castle, Danube 
town, Herkimer county. 

1770 — Palatine Lutheran stone 
church, Palatine town, Montgomery 
county. 

1772 — Schoharie Reformed (Dutch) 
stone church, Schoharie, Schoharie 
county. 

The Fort Herkimer church is not 
only the oldest in the valley but is 
probably the second oldest in the state, 
being antedated only by the Sleepy 
Hollow stone church, near Tarrytown, 
on the Hudson, made famous by Ir- 
ving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Fort 
Herkimer church was included in the 
stockade of Fort Herkimer. 

The Indian Castle church was erect- 
ed by order of Sir William Johnson, 
colonial superintendent of Indian af- 
fairs, to furnish religious instruction 
to the Mohawks there resident at the 



326 



APPENDIX 



upper or Canajoharie Castle. John- 
son's faith was the Episcopalian but 
he gave support and financial aid to 
every church erected in the Mohawk 
valley during his time. The Indian 
Castle church was built by Col. Samuel 
Clyde of Cherry Valley, under John- 
son's orders. 

The Schoharie church formed part of 
the Lower Fort, on the Schoharie 
creek, during the Revolution. 

It is greatly to be regretted that the 
most interesting church structure ever 
raised in the Mohawk valley — Queen 
Anne's chapel at Fort Hunter, Mont- 
'gomery county, should have been de- 
stroyed during the building of the Erie 
canal. Architects and builders would 
do well to study these old pre-Revolu- 
tionary buildings, as well as those 
erected in the half century following 
the close of the Revolution, with a view 
to the modern adoption of their best 
features for valley structures of today. 
All the good Mohawk valley traditions, 
whether of building or of other phases 
of human life, are worthy of preserva- 
tion. 



1715-1774— CHRONOLOGY OF WIL- 
LIAM JOHNSON. 

The following is a chronology of the 
principal events in the life of Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson relative to the Mohawk 
valley and its inhabitants. 

1715 — -William Johnson born in 
County Down, Ireland. 

1738 — William Johnson settled in 
Florida town, Montgomery county, and 
built his first house (of three) which 
he named Fort Johnson. Johnson came 
to the Mohawk valley to manage the 
landed estate of his uncle. Admiral 
Warren. 

1742 — William Johnson builds stone 
house, mill and store at present Fort 
Johnson, Amsterdam town, Montgom- 
ery county. This house was named 
first Mount Johnson. After it was for- 
tified some ten years later it Ijecame 
known at Fort Johnson, which name it 
now bears. The similarity of name in 
Johnson's first two houses has been the 
cause of considerable confusion. Ref- 



erences -in this work to Fort Johnson 
mean the present Fort Johnson, town 
of Amsterdam. 

1745 — Johnson appointed justice of 
the peace of Albany county and colonel 
of Albany county militia; organized 
Mohawk valley militia. 

1746 — Johnson appointed commis- 
sioner of Indian affairs for New York 
province. 

1746 — Johnson made a chief of the 
Mohawk tribe under the name of War- 
raghegagey. 

1750 — Johnson resigns position of su- 
perintendent of New York province In- 
dian affairs. 

1750 — Col. Wm. Johnson made a 
member of the governor's council of 
the province of New York. 

1754 — Col. Johnson and party of Iro- 
(luois, including King Hendrick, attend 
colonial conference at Albany, held to 
discuss means of common defense, by 
the American-British colonies, against 
France. 

1755 — -Fort Canajoharie, at Indian 
Castle, Herkimer county, ))uilt for pro- 
tection of Mohawks, under supervision 
of Col. Johnson. 

1755 — Johnson tendered an ovation 
and public reception in New York city, 
for his victory at Lake George. 

1755 — Major-General Johnson, in 
command of British-American army, 
defeats French in Battle of Lake 
George; 250 Mohawks in Johnson's 
army; King Hendrick, Mohawk sa- 
chem, killed; Johnson was made a bar- 
onet and made colonial Indian superin- 
tendent and voted £5,000 by the En- 
glish parliament, for this victory. 
Johnson was wounded in the thigh in 
this battle. 

1758 — Gen. Johnson with militia and 
Indians starts for support of Gen. 
Webb's British-American expedition to 
reinforce Fort Oswego. Webb turns 
back. Fort Oswego falls and Johnson's 
party returns. 

1756, August — Gen. Johnson leads In- 
dians and militia to assist Gen. Webb's 
party for relief of Fort William Henry, 
at the head of Lake George; expedi- 
tion fails through Webb's incapacity 
and Fort William Henry is captured by 
French. 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



327 



1758, April — Fort Herkimer attaclved; 
Johnson calls out valley militia, but 
enemy escapes. 

1758, July 8 — Johnson and 400 Iro- 
quois warriors join Gen. Abercrombie's 
British-American army at Ticonderoga, 
where it is disastrously defeated by 
French. 

1759 — Gen. Johnson succeeds to coin- 
mand of British-American army before 
Fort Niagara, after Gen. Prideaux is 
killed, and takes that French fort; 700 
Iroquois in Johnson's force. 

1759 — Johnson founds Johnstown, 
Fulton county. 

1760 — Gen. Johnson joins Gen. Am- 
herst's British-American army which 
captures Montreal; 1,300 Iroquois war- 
riors in Johnson's expedition. 

1760 — British Crown grants to John- 
son the "Royal Grant" of 69,000 acres 
in Herkimer county, north of the Mo- 
hawk; previously deeded to him by the 
Mohawks. 

1760 (about) — Johnson builds a suin- 
mer residence, called Castle Cumber- 
land, in Broadalbin town, Fulton coun- 
ty; also a fishing lodge on the Sacan- 
daga in the town of Northampton, Ful- 
ton county. 

1763 — Johnson completes Johnson 
Hall at Johnstown, Fulton county, and 
removes thence from Fort Johnson. 

1764 — Johnson holds a grand Indian 
council at Fort Niagara. From 1763-S 
Johnson was continually occupied with 
affairs relative to the Pontiac Indian 
insurrection in the west. In 1763, 
Johnson Hall was fortified. 

1766 — Johnson supervises erection of 
St. George's Episcopal church at Sche- 
nectady. The same year he fitted up a 
Masonic lodge room, for the use of the 
fraternity at Johnson Hall. 

1768 — Council between Sir William 
Johnson, Indian colonial superintend- 
ent, together with British colonial au- 
thorities, and Iroquois at Fort Stanwix 
(now Rome), in which Six Nations re- 
linquish large part of their lands to 
British Crown. 

1771 — Johnson builds St. John's 
(Episcopal) church at Johnstown; 
school established here Ijy Johnson 
about this time. 

1772 — Tryon county formed, through 



the influence of Johnson, and Johns- 
town made county seat. 

1772 — Gov. Tryon reviews three regi- 
ments of Mohawk valley militia (num- 
bering 1,400 men), under command of 
Gen. Johnson at Johnstown, Burnets- 
field (present Herkimer) and German 
Flats. 

1774, July 11— Sir William Johnson 
dies at Johnstown, during Indian coun- 
cil. Funeral attended by 2,000 people, 
including many colonial officials and 
Indian chiefs. Sir John Johnson suc- 
ceeds to his estate, including 173,000 
acres of land. 



1634-1911— MOHAWK VALLEY 
TRAVELERS' CHRONOLOGY. 

This work contains accounts of 
twelve journeys through the Mohawk 
valley or over the Mohawk river, and 
this is a more complete list of these 
historic accounts than is contained in 
any work on the Mohawk valley, so 
far as the editor of this work knows. 
These interesting accounts throw a 
personal and vivid light on the history 
of this locality and they are as follows: 

1634 (Series I., Chapter I) — Account 
of Dutch explorers, particularly of the 
valley from the Noses to a point oppo- 
site Caroga creek. 

1757 (Series I., Chapter VI.) — French 
account of the Mohawk valley, north 
and south shore roads, from Fort Can- 
ajoharie (Indian Castle) to Schenec- 
tady. 

1760 (appendix) — ^Account of Mrs. 
Grant of Laggan (author of the Me- 
moirs of an American Lady) of Mo- 
hawk river voyage from Schenectady 
to Wood creek, and thence to Oswego, 
with stop at Fort Canajoharie (Indian 
Castle). 

1783 (Series I., Chapter XVIII.) — 
Capt. Thompson's journey from Fort 
Plain to Fort Oswego, bearing news of 
cessation of Revolutionary war hos- 
tilities. 

1788 (appendix) — First Mohawk val- 
ley trip of Elkanah Watson, Schenec- 
tady to Fort Schuyler (Rome). 

1791 (appendix) — Second Mohawk 
valley trip of Elkanah Watson and 
companions, Albany to Oneida lake. 



328 



APPENDIX 



Oswego river, Onondaga lake, Cayuga 
and Seneca lakes, resulting in the for- 
mation of the Inland Lock and Navi- 
gation Co. and improvement of Mo- 
hawk river in 1796. 

1792 (Series I., Chapter I.) — Account 
of traveler's trip through the Mohawk 
valley in 1792, from Schenectady to 
Oneida Castle. 

1802 (Series II., Chapter I.)— Account 
of Rev. John Taylor's valley trip from 
Tribes Hill to Little Falls. See also 
account of Little Falls in Series II., 
Chapter VI., by Rev. Mr. Taylor. 

1807 (Series II., Chapter VI.)— Chris- 
tian Schultz's trip by packet l)atteau 
up the Mohawk river to Wood creek. 

1825 (Series II., Chapter VII.)— Thur- 
low Weed's stagecoach journey over 
the Mohawk turnpike. 

1848 (Series III., Chapter II.)— Trip 
of Lossing, the historian, from Curry- 
town to Sharon Springs to Cherry 
Valley to Fort Plain; also reference to 
Erie canal packet boat trip from Fort 
Plain to Fultonville in Series III., 
Chapter XV. 

1911 (Series III., Chapter V.)— Aero- 
plane flight of Atwood from Syracuse 
to Nelliston and from Nelliston to Cas- 
tleton, on his St. Louis to New York 
air journey. The Mohawk river por- 
tion of the trip is described in a sketch 
by Atwood entitled "Following the Mo- 
hawk." 



MOHAWK VALLEY MANUFACTUR- 
ING CHRONOLOGY — SKETCHES 
OF PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIES AND 
OF CHEESE DAIRYING. 

Following is a chronology of Mo- 
hawk valley manufacturing, inclusive 
of the manufacture of dairy products. 
This does not cover all the industries 
of the six Mohawk valley counties Imt 
it does include the principal industries, 
in which the great majority of the 
wage-earners of the valley are engag- 
ed. This chronology gives at a glance 
the beginnings and development of the 
leading manufactures. 

1800 (about) — Manufacture of cheese 
for outside markets begun in Mohawk 
valley. Dairying became a large val- 



ley industry about 1825. Cheese mak- 
ing for market purposes was intro- 
duced into the Mohawk valley by New 
England immigrants into the Mohawk 
valley, principally in Herkimer county. 

1807 — Manufacture of woolen cloth 
began at Frankfort. 

1809— James Burr and Tallmadge Ed- 
wards start business of dressing 
leather and making leather mittens in 
Kingsboro (now Gloversville), Fulton 
county; this was the beginning of the 
leather and glove industry of Fulton 
county. 

1820 — Manufacture of plows begun at 
Utica. 

1830— Harry Bucrell of Salisbury, 
Herkimer county, makes first ship- 
ment of cheese to England (10,000 
pounds). 

1831 — Eliphalet Remington jr. opens 
forge for manufacture of gun barrels 
and firearms at Ilion, Herkimer coun- 
ty. He had previously made same 
from 1816 on his father's farm at 
Steele's Creek, Herkimer county. 

1831 — Egbert Egberts invents a 
frame for knit goods manufacture, op- 
erated by power, at Albany, N. Y. 
Timothy Bailey aids in invention. Re- 
moved to Cohoes in 1832. 

1832 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Cohoes by Egberts & Bailey; 
probably the inception of the knit 
goods business of the country; the 
Mohawk valley now (1914) being the 
center of American knit goods manu- 
facture. 

1836 — Manufacture of axes and other 
edge tools begun in Cohoes. 

1836 — Manufacture of ready-made 
clothing begun at Utica. 

1836 — Manufacture of cotton cloth 
(white goods) introduced at Cohoes by 
Peter Harmony, a Spaniard, who 
founded the Harmony Mills Co. 

1840 — Manufacture of ingrain car- 
l)ets begun at Hagaman's Mills by 
Wait, Green & Co.; later J. Sanford & 
Son of Amsterdam. 

1842 — Manufacture of woolen goods 
begun at Little Falls. 

1845 (about) — Manufacture of yarn 
begun at Little Falls. 

1845 — Manufacture of railroad steam 
locomotives begun at Schenectady. 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



329 



1846 — First kid glove factory of 
Johnstown established. 

1847 — Manufacture of worsteds be- 
gun at Utica. 

1848 — Manufacture of linseed oil be- 
gun at Amsterdam. 

1848 — Manufacture of cotton cloth 
(white goods) begun at Utica; now 
(1914) largest center of this industry 
in New York state. 

1857 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Amsterdam. 

1859 — Manufacture of cotton and 
paper bags begun at Canajoharie. 

1863 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Utica. 

1863 — Manufacture of knit goods ma- 
chinery on a large scale begun in 
Cohoes. 

1865 — Manufacture of furniture be- 
gun at Fort Plain. 

1868 — Blood's broom factory estab- 
lished at Amsterdam ; first large 
broom factory of that city. 

1872 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Herkimer. 

1872 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Little Falls. 

1875 — Alfred Dolge locates at Dolge- 
ville and begins manufacture of felt 
goods, etc. 

1878 — Manufacture of brass begun at 
Rome, Oneida county. 

1886 — Manufacture of desks and 
typewriter cabinets begun at Herki- 
mer. 

1887 — Manufacture of copper begun 
at Rome, Oneida county. 

1887 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at Fort Plain. 

1888 — General Electric Co. moves to 
Schenectady. 

1889 — Manufacture of player pianos 
and piano actions begun at St. Johns- 
ville. 

1890 (about) — Manufacture and 
packing of foodstuffs begun at Cana- 
joharie. 

1892 — Manufacture of knit goods be- 
gun at St. Johnsville. 



We have seen, in this review of 
events, the development of agriculture 
and manufactories in the valley. From 
a line of general crops raised on the 
farm we have witnessed a gradual 



change to dairying and haying with 
corn, oats, hops and barley as subsid- 
iary crops. Also there has been a 
gradual increase in poultry, fruit-rais- 
ing and market gardening. The rais- 
ing of broom corn and hops, once im- 
portant crops, have practically ceased 
except in Schoharie county, where hops 
are yet raised. 

In 1909, in the six Mohawk valley 
counties, there were 18,457 farms, with 
about 1,350,000 acres of improved farm 
land, raising over $30,000,000 of pro- 
ducts, exclusive of lumber. 

Manufacturing in the Mohawk val- 
ley was generally introduced by New 
England men, who settled in the val- 
ley, after the close of the Revolution. 
Men of "Mohawk Dutch" descent also 
soon joined in this industrial move- 
ment, after it was brought well under 
way by the valley "Yankees." 

Following the completion of the Erie 
canal came a boom in town building 
and the gradual growth of manufactures, 
which, however, had their greatest de- 
velopment in the valley after the Civil 
war. Today we see Utica a great knit 
goods and white goods manufacturing 
center, Rome a large producer of brass 
and copper goods, Frankfort of tools, 
Ilion the state's largest manufacturing 
center of typewriters and firearms, at 
Herkimer a great desk and furniture 
industry. Little Falls, St. Johnsville, 
Fort Plain, Amsterdam and Cohoes, 
centers for knit goods manufactviring, 
Dolgeville, New York's leading felt 
producing town, at Gloversville and 
Johnstown 80 per cent of the country's 
leather glove industry, Amsterdam the 
second carpet and rug manufacturing 
center in New York and the first 
broom-making city, and Schenectady 
the largest producer of electrical ap- 
paratus in the world, and the first New 
York city in the manufacture of loco- 
motives. Those cited are only the lead- 
ing industries of each town and there 
are other important and interesting 
industries, such as the making of 
player pianos at St. Johnsville. the 
manufacture of bags and the packing 
of food stuffs at Canajoharie, and a 
hundred other kinds of important in- 
dustries located within the confines of 



330 



APPENDIX 



the six Mohawk valley counties — aside 
from Schoharie, which is almost en- 
tirely an agricultural section, possess- 
ing but few manufacturing establish- 
ments. 

It was about the middle of the nine- 
teenth century and particularly at the 
close of the Civil war that the Mohawk 
valley changed from an agricultural to 
a manufacturing district — now one of 
the most important in the United 
States. 

In the Mohawk valley, at Palatine 
Bridge, was developed the sleeping and 
palace car and the elevated car roof; 
at Newport, the Yale lock and, at 
Ilion, the modern typewriter, while 
Cohoes was the birthplace of the knit 
goods industry. Herkimer county was 
also the birthplace of American cheese 
making for market. Today at Schen- 
ectady the laboratories of the General 
Electric Company are continually pro- 
ducing new electrical devices. 

A study of local manufacturing and 
agricultural interests is advised for 
public school pupils, in connection 
with the study of valley history. They 
should be considered in connection 
with their birth, growth and present 
importance. 

In 1912 in the six Mohawk valley 
counties there were 1,321 factories, em- 
ploying 88,271 operatives, producing 
goods of an estimated value of $200,- 
000,000 annually. 

For detailed New York state manu- 
facturing information consult the New 
York State Department of Labor In- 
dustrial Directory. 

The following sketches of the prin- 
cipal manufacturing industries of the 
Mohawk valley, properly belong in the 
section of this work devoted to "Addi- 
tions." However, as the manufactur- 
ing chronology belongs under the Mo- 
hawk Valley Chronology it has been 
thought best to publish both the man- 
ufacturing chronology and the histori- 
cal and descriptive sketches of Mo- 
hawk valley manufactures in this 
place. The industries of the valley are 
varied, unique and important, and, be- 
sides those mentioned, there are here 
represented many of the manufactures 
of the United States. The leading in- 



dustries are agriculture, knit goods, 
electrical machinery, leather gloves 
and leather, white goods, rugs and car- 
pets and wood working. 

Industries of the six Mohawk valley 
counties which employ over 1,000 
hands are here described. Two others 
— broom making and felt manufactur- 
ing — which employ nearly 1,000 hands 
and which soon will probably exceed 
that number, are also included. The 
leading industries are here described 
in their chronological order, beginning 
with cheese dairying, which was the 
first to develop and which the editor of 
this work considers as much manufac- 
turing as any other industry. 



1785-1914 — Cheese dairying and gen- 
eral dairying in Herkimer county and 
the Mohawk valley. 

The following account comprises a 
history (from 1785 to 1914) and de- 
scription of cheese-making and dairy- 
ing in Herkimer county and the Mo- 
hawk valley. It may be remembered 
that the same conditions, etc., apply to 
the valley adjacent to Herkimer, ex- 
cept in the earliest years of cheese- 
making, particularly to Montgomery 
and Oneida counties, as well as Herki- 
mer. It is a fine line which divides 
some agricultural from industrial work 
or manufacturing. It is difficult to un- 
derstand why cheese-making or butter 
making is not as much a manufactur- 
ing enterprise as the making of loco- 
motives, a rug or an undershirt. Also 
why cheese-making should be consid- 
ered an agricultural pursuit and the 
manufacture of condensed milk a man- 
ufacturing enterprise is a question. 

From Hardin's History of Herkimer 
County (1893), Chapter VII., on "His- 
tory of Cheese Dairying in Herkimer 
County," taken from a chapter written 
(in 1878) by X. A. Willard. The fol- 
lowing contains almost the entire 
paper: 

The rock, which underlies a large 
share of the lands in the towns north 
of the Mohawk, is the Utica slate. It 
is of a dark color, of a soft or flaky 
nature, is found cropping out in nu- 
imrous places, and, when exposed to 
the atmosphere and frosts, readily falls 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



331 



to pieces and is mingled with the soil. 
Tlie rock contains consideralile organic 
matter (according to Emmons, more 
than ten parts in one liundred), is 
charged with sulphur and contains 
lime, and, when near the surface, 
forms a soil rich in fertilizing ele- 
ments and not easily exhaustible. In- 
stances can be pointed out where fields 
of this black slate have been plowed 
and cultivated for more than twenty 
years in succession without the appli- 
cation of manures and yielding' good 
returns each year; and there are pas- 
tures and meadows that have lain in 
grass for thirty or forty years and 
which are still yielding abundant crops. 

In the towns south of the Mohawk 
river, the Utica slate is found only to a 
limited extent, the Frankfort slate, 
limestone and Marcellus shales being 
the characteristic underlying rocks. 

It is the modifying influence which 
these rocks are supposed to exert on 
the grasses and the comijaratively 
large surface over which they extend, 
together with the abundant supply of 
never-failing streams and springs of 
pure water, that render Herkimer 
county peculiarly adapted to grazing, 
giving a richness and flavor to her 
cheese product not easily obtained in 
less favored localities. 

The fall of rain and snow during the 
year is consideral)ly more here than in 
many other parts of the state, and this 
is supposed to act favorably on the 
grasses and in the preservation of 
meadows. The grasses usually grown 
and considered most productive are 
timothy, June or Kentucky blue grass, 
red top and orchard grass, with the 
clovers, red and white. These grow 
on the sward and are well adapted to 
the soil and climate. White clover arid 
June grass are indigenous and are 
deemed of great value for pasturage. 

* * * At first and for many years 
after dairying had become established, 
farmers raised their own stock by se- 
lecting calves from their best cows, 
and in this way the milking stock was 
greatly improved. The early settlers 
along the Mohawk came mostly from 
Germany and Holland and they 
brought with them and reared here 
what was known as the "Dutch cow." 
She was medium in size, black and 
white, often red and white, very hardy, 
a good feeder and of deep milking 
habit. The early dairymen got their 
best cows from this breed. * * * ^g 
the price of cheese advanced, the prac- 
tise of filling up the herds, with stock 
driven from other counties, often from 
remote localities, obtained; and, al- 
though this means of keeping good the 
herd was more or less deprecated by 
farmers as unsatisfactory, still the 
practise grew and liecame pretty gen- 
eral. [In the thirty -six years — from 
1878 to 1914 — since the writing of this 



article there has been an almost com- 
plete reversion to the Dutch cow of the 
first settlers — the Holstein-Frisian 
breed, which is in general use by the 
progressive dairymen of the Mohawk 
valley. Short-Horn Durhams, Devons, 
Ayrshires and Jerseys were introduced 
between 1830 and 1900, but they have 
been generally discarded now (1914) 
for the "Dutch cow."] 

Herkimer county may justly claim 
the honor of giving l)irth to cheese 
dairying as a specialty in America. 
It was from Herkimer county that the 
business began to spread to the ad- 
joining counties, and from thence to 
the different states and to Canada. In 
many instances, Herkimer county 
dairymen, removing to distant locali- 
ties, were the first to plant the busi- 
ness in their new homes; while in 
many instances, cheese-dairying was 
commenced by drawing upon Herkimer 
for cheese makers to manage the 
dairies. Often too., parties were sent 
into the county to obtain a knowledge 
of cheese making, and, returning home, 
carried the art into new districts. Thus 
for many years Herkimer was the great 
center from which the new districts 
drew the necessary information and 
skill for prosecuting the business of 
cheese dairying with profit and suc- 
cess. 

Cheese was made in small quantities 
in the county as early as 1800. In 1785 
a number of persons, emigrating from 
New England, settled in the town of 
Fairfield [Herkimer county]; among 
them may be named Cornelius Chat- 
field, Benjamin Bowen, Nathan Arnold, 
John Bucklin, Daniel Fenner, Nathan 
Smith, the Eatons, Neelys, Peter and 
William Brown and others. Some of 
these families, coming from Cheshire, 
Mass.. brought with them a practical 
knowledge of the method by which 
cheese was made in a small way in 
Cheshire. But notable among these 
families were Nathan Arnold, Daniel 
Fenner and the Browns, who settled in 
the southern part of the town of Fair- 
field and near each other. Arnold's 
wife was a cheese maker, and he is 
the first, it is believed, who began 
cheese dairying in the county. 

Except along the Mohawk nearly the 
whole county was then a dense forest. 
Brant, the famous Mohawk chief, and 
his bloody warriors, had been gone 
several years but traces of their pilla.ge 
and murders were fresh among the 
early settlers in the valley and along 
the river. * * * 

From ISOO to 1826 cheese-dairying 
had become pretty general in Herki- 
mer countv but the herds were mostly 
small. As early as 1812-181 G the larg- 
est herds, numbering about forty each, 
were those belongin.g to ^^'illiam Fer- 
ris, Samuel Carpenter, Nathan Salis- 
Viury and Isaac Smith in the northern 



332 



APPENDIX 



part of the county, and they were re- 
garded as extraordinary for their size. 

About 1S26 the business began to be 
estaljlished in adjoining counties, in 
single dairies here and there, and gen- 
erally by persons emigrating from 
lierkimer county. The implements and 
appurtenances of the dairy were then 
very rude. The milking was done in 
open yards and milking barns were un- 
known. The milk was curded in 
wooden tubs, the curd cut with a long 
wooden knife and broken with the 
hands. The cheeses were pressed in log 
presses standing exposed to the 
weather. The cheeses were generally 
thin and small. They were held 
through the season and, in the fall, 
when ready for market, were packed in 
rough casks made for the purpose and 
shipped to different localities for home 
consumption. Prices in those days 
were low, ranging from 4 cents to 6 
cents per pound. * * * 

In 1826, Harry Burrell of Salisbury, 
Herkimer county, then a young man 
full of enterprise and courage, having 
learned something of the sly methods 
of Ferris and Nesbith [of Massachu- 
setts, then the leading valley buyers 
of cheese] resolved to enter the field as 
their competitor. He pushed his oper- 
ations with great vigor and bought a 
large share of the cheese at a price 
above that figured by the Massachu- 
setts firm. He afterwards became the 
chief dealer in dairy goods in Central 
New York, often purchasing the entire 
product of cheese made in the United 
States. 

Mr. Burrell was the first to open a 
cheese trade with England, commenc- 
ing shipping as a venture in 1S30 or 
1832, at the suggestion of Erastus 
Corning of Albany. The first shipment 
was about 10,000 pounds. He was the 
first also to send cheese to Philadel- 
phia [first shipping there in 1828. Mr. 
P.urrell's business, on his death, was 
carried on 1)y his sons D. H. P.urrell 
and E. S. Burrell of Little Falls, Avhich 
place was the home of Harry Burrell 
during the last twenty years of his 
life]. 

From 1836 to 1860 several Herkimer 
county merchants had entered the field 
as cheese buyers, the most notable of 
whom were Samuel Perry of New- 
port, V. S. Kenyon of Middleville, A. H. 
Buel of Fairfield, Perry &: Sweezy of 
Newport, Benjamin Silliman of Salis- 
Tiury, I^orenzo Carryl of Salisliury, 
Frederick I\'es, James H. Ives, Roger 
Bamber of Stark, Simeon Osburne of 
Herkimer and several others. Cheese 
during this time was usually bought 
on long credits, the dealers going 
through the coimtry and purchasing 
the entire lot of cheese made or to be 
made during the season, advancing a 
small part of the money and agreeing 
to pay the balance on the first of Jan- 



uary following. Failures would occur 
from time to time and the farmers sell- 
ing to these unfortunate speculators 
not unfrequently lost the bulk of their 
labor for the season. 

Up to 1840 the dairymen of Herkimer 
had made but little improvement in 
farm I)uildings or in appliances for 
the dairy. I>ands were comparatively 
cheap and it was no unusual thing for 
men with little or no means to buy 
farms and paj'^ for them by dairying. 
About this time or a little earlier the 
smaller farms of the coimty began to 
l:ie absorlied by well-to-do dairymen 
and the plan of renting farms on what 
is known as the "two-fifths" system 
began to be adopted. * * • 

In 1840 farmers had liecome so pros- 
perous from dairying that they began 
to pay more attention to the care and 
management of stock. They not only 
looked more closely to the comfort of 
the herds, but "milking barns" for their 
own convenience and comfort began to 
be pretty generally su):)stituted for the 
open yard in milking. 

About this time also the first dairy 
steamer for making cheese was 
brought out by G. Farmer of Herki- 
mer. It consisted of a boiler for the 
generation of steam, attached to a 
stove or furnac(\ with a pipe for con- 
ve>'ing steam from the boiler to the 
milk vat, on the same principle as the 
milk vats now in use. 

A branch of the steam pipe was con- 
nected with a tub for heating water 
for washing utensils used in the dairy. 
This apparatus of course was a crude 
affair compared with the modern, 
highly-improved cheese vat and steam 
boiler, but it was the first invention of 
the kind and led to grand results in 
labor-saving appliances in the dairy. 
In about ten years after Farmer's in- 
vention, which was extensively intro- 
duced into Herkimer and other coun- 
ties, William G. Young of Cedarville 
brought out the steel curd-knife, which 
was a great improvement over the wire 
and tin cutters that Truman Cole of 
Fairfield had invented and had got into 
general use. The log presses were also 
fast going out of use — their place be- 
ing supplied liy the Kendall press. The 
Ta.vlor and 05'sten presses, both in- 
vented by Herkimer county men, were 
further improvements brought out be- 
tween 1850 and 1860. 

From 1850 to 1860 dairying began to 
assume formidalile proportions. Prices 
had gradually risen from 5 to 7 cents, 
from 7 cents to 9 cents, and the busi- 
ness was considered more prosperous 
than any other farm industry. During 
this period the farmers of Herkimer 
county had generally acquired wealth 
or a su))stantial competence, and this 
was shown in the improved buildings 
and premises. 

In 1857 Jesse Williams of Rome, 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



333 



Oneida county (a dairyman who had 
learned clieese-making in Herkimer) 
conceived the idea of the factory sys- 
tem, but it did not begin to attract 
much attention until 1S60, when plans 
were inaugurated for testing the sys- 
tem in Herkimer. The first factories 
were erected by Avery & Ives of Salis- 
bury and by Mr. Shell of Russia. The 
system did not spread so rapidly at 
first in Herkimer, as it has in some 
new sections, because cheese-making 
was lietter understood by the mass of 
the farmers here than elsewhere; and 
the cheese of Herkimer having a high 
reputation in many of the large dairies, 
the dairymen were at first a little 
doubtful as to the success of the fac- 
tories. They, however, soon wheeled 
into line, and now the last state cen- 
sus gives the number of factories in 
Herkimer county, in 1874, at 8S, aggre- 
gating a capital of $235,070, and paying 
out annually in wages the sum of $48,- 
181. The number of cows in the coun- 
ty, whose milk was sent to the fac- 
tories that year, was 32,372 and in 1875, 
34,070; the number of patrons was 
1,303. 

[In 18C1] * * * Dairymen and 
dealers began to meet at I.,ittle Falls on 
certain days of the week, for the pur- 
pose of making transactions in cheese. 
There was a large number of home 
dealers, some of them acting as agents 
for New York, Philadelphia and Balti- 
more houses, while others were seek- 
ing transactions on their own account. 
The fact that so many dairymen had 
lost money the previous year and the 
desire, on their part to sell for cash or 
short credits helped to start "Sales 
day" or a public market at Little Falls. 
Dairymen commenced in the Spring to 
bring small parcels of cheese into town 
on Mondays, offering it for sale to resi- 
dent dealers and transactions were 
readily made, * * * and "market 
days," for the sale of dairy products at 
Little Falls, were inaugurated. At first 
two days in the week, Mondays and 
Wednesdays, were agreed upon, and 
the plan worked well and was satis- 
factory to all concerned. Soon dealers 
from New York and other cities began 
to visit the market, making such se- 
lections as they desired, while the 
dairymen, selling for cash and meet- 
ing with buyers who were ready to 
compete for their goods, were so pleas- 
ed with the arrangement that they did 
not care to dispose of their cheese in 
any other way. * * * 

In 1864 the first weekly reports of 
the Little Falls market, then and now 
[1878] the largest interior dairy mar- 
ket in the world, began to be made by 
the writer in the Utica Morning Her- 
ald. Previous to 1864, farmers relied 
on city quotations which were believed 
to be in the merchants' favor. Indeed 
so sharp was the competition at Little 



Falls that the prices paid at this mar- 
ket every week were not infrequently 
above New York quotations, and 
dairymen from other sections sought 
eagerly for these reports before selling. 
The factories also were sending their 
salesmen on the market; not only from 
Herkimer but from the adjoining coun- 
ties, the "sales day" now toeing on Mon- 
day only of each week. From 
1864 to 1870, the Little Falls 
cheese market had acquired so 
high a reputation that it was 
considered the center of the trade in 
America, and its weekly transactions 
had a controlling inlluence in estab- 
lishing prices on the seaboard. Re- 
ports of the market at its close, were 
telegraphed, not only to parties en- 
gaged in the trade in our leading cities, 
but to the great cheese centers of Liv- 
erpool and London. During this time, 
besides a great number of farm-dairy- 
men attending the market weekly, 
salesmen from 300 factories have some- 
times been present while the regular 
list of factories doing business in tlie 
market numbered about 200. The 
quantity of cheese annually sold on the 
market has been estimated at 25,000,- 
000 to 30,000.000 pounds, but the actual 
shipment of dairy produce from the 
county was considerably less, as the 
factories after selling their goods by 
sample, shipped them at the railroad 
depots nearest the factory. 

The "export" quantity (other than 
sold for local use) of cheese sent out 
from Herkimer county in 1864 was 16,- 
767,999 pounds, and, of butter, 492,673 
pounds. In 1869 it was 15,570,487 
pounds of cheese and 204,634 pounds 
of butter. 

Up to 1871 the butter market at 
Little Falls had been held in the open 
street, but, early in January of that 
year, steps were taken to organize a 
Dairy Board of Trade for the State, 
with headquarters at Little Falls, that 
being the chief and only dairy market 
in the interior of the country. 

In February, 1871, the New York 
State Dairymen's Association and 
Board of Trade was organized at Lit- 
tle Falls, at a public meeting there, 
this being the first dairymen's lioard 
of trade organized on the continent. 
Similar associations shortly followed 
at Utica, N. Y., and Elgin, 111., and in 
other sections. Shortly after the or- 
ganization of the Little Falls Dairy- 
men's Association and Board of Trade, 
the citizens of Little Falls fitted up a 
board of trade room. In 1878 nearly 
all the factory made cheese of Herki- 
mer county went to England. 

Butter making has never been ex- 
tensively practised as a specialty in 
Herkimer county, although consider- 
able quantities of butter are made in 
the spring and fall in connection with 
cheese manufacture. The usual plan. 



334 



APPENDIX 



in these seasons, when milk is deliv- 
ered at the factories, is to allow far- 
mers to skim one day's milk or the 
night mess of milk and then deliver 
the skimmed milk. In farm dairies the 
milk is set for a longer or a shorter 
period, and the skimmed milk made 
into cheese. But this practise obtains 
for the most part only in spring and 
fall, while some of the factories will 
not allow any skimming, believing that 
a high reputation can only be main- 
tained by manufacturing at all times 
nothing but "full-milk cheese." A few 
creameries have from time to time 
been operated in the county. 

Commenting on the above [1878] ar- 
ticle Hardin's [1892] History of Herki- 
mer County, says: 

Since the foregoing paper was writ- 
ten but few changes have taken place 
in cheese-dairying in Herkimer coun- 
ty. The annual production of dairy 
products shows slight fluctuations 
from year to year, but has neither ma- 
terially increased or decreased. The 
changes which have occurred have 
been mostly along the line of advanced 
methods of manufacture. The intro- 
duction of improved machinery into 
cheese and butter factories and of bet- 
ter blood into dairy herds. The ma- 
chine recently [1892] invented by Dr. 
Babcock of the Wisconsin Experiment 
Station, Madison, Wis., for testing 
milk to determine the quantity of but- 
ter fats, is now in use in some cream- 
eries and factories, while the separa- 
tor is quite extensively employed in the 
manufacture of butter. 

Dairymen are giving more attention 
to means for increasing the capacity 
of their herds both with regard to pro- 
duction and quality of milk. The in- 
troduction of full-blooded males of the 
Holstein-Frisian [Dutch cow], Jersey 
and Guernsey breeds, for the accom- 
plishment of this end, is consequently 
receiving consideraljle attention, 

which, with the better care and man- 
agement, is gradually improving the 
average of the dairy cows of the 
county. The silo too, is beginning to 
command attention from the most pro- 
gressive dairy farmers, a dozen or 
more being in successful operation in 
different localities in the county. A 
movement is also being made in the 
direction of winter dairying, which 
bids fair to add new impetus to this 
already important and prosperous in- 
dustry. 

In 1892 Herkimer county sold for 
"export" (other than home use), 206,- 
058 boxes of cheese, at an average of 
60 lbs. per box, or a total for the year 
of 12,363,483 lbs., at an average price 
of .0915 cents per lb. The total value 
of this was $1,131,258, which, with 
the addition of $87,404 worth of 



dairy cheese, made a grand total for 
Herkimer county, in 1892, of $1,218,662. 
Prices from 1890 to 1892 ranged from 
6%c to lie per pound. 

There have been considerable gen- 
eral changes in the conditions of Mo- 
hawk valley dairying from the year 
when the foregoing was written (in 
1878 and 1893) until the present (1914). 
In the last twenty years there seems 
to have been a tendency away from 
cheese-making — toward the production 
and shipping of milk and cream to 
cities and toward the manufacture of 
milk into products such as butter and 
condensed milk. There seems also to 
be a tendency among farmers toward 
combination in dairy production, a 
natural sign of the present times 
(1914). 

Since 1893 the Dutch or Holstein- 
Frisian cow has resumed its old-time 
supremacy along the Mohawk, it lieing 
the animal favored by local dairymen. 
Also since 1893 Utica has vied with 
Little Falls as an interior first-hand 
market for cheese, and for a number 
of years the volume of cheese business 
transacted in Utica exceeded that of 
Little Falls. In 1913, however, Little 
Falls did a larger business than Utica, 
regaining once more its paramount po- 
sition as the leading eastern cheese 
market. 

The Fort Plain market, Feb. 22, 1914, 
quoted I6I/2 cents as the price paid 
producers of cheese for their product, 
while 22 cents was quoted as the retail 
price. In cities and points remote 
from dairy sections, the retail price of 
"American cheese" is greater (1914). 
Pasteurized milk sold in New York in 
1914 for 10 cents per quart bottle, 
while the prediction was made, by 
those in a position to know, that it 
would not be many years before the 
metropolitan retail price per quart bot- 
tle would be 15 cents. Notwithstand- 
ing this increase in price paid to far- 
mers, creameries and cheese factories 
for milk and milk products, it is said 
that the dairy herds of New York state 
are decreasing in size and that far- 
mers are going into other lines of ag- 
ricultural production. It was stated 
that in 1913 the dairy herds of the 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



335 



state decreased 30,000 cows. This con- 
dition is certainly peculiar. The re- 
quirements of the State Board of Ag- 
riculture may have affected the situa- 
tion. All dairy farms and premises 
nowadays must be perfectly sanitary, 
or, rather, they are supposed to be. 
Rigid cattle inspection is practised and 
frequently farmers lose a considerable 
part of their herds because their cat- 
tle become infected by tuberculosis and 
are killed by state orders. It may be 
that in the future a general applica- 
tion of the laws of sanitation to farms 
will make sickly cows a rarity and the 
farmer, adapting himself to new con- 
ditions, will make a fair profit at the 
business of dairying, for its products 
are bound to increase in value. Many 
farmers find profit in the business in 
this year — 1914. 

In 1912, in the six Mohawk valley 
counties, there were condensed milk 
factories located at Deansboro and 
Holland Patent, Oneida county; New- 
port, Herkimer county; St. Johnsville, 
Nelliston and Fultonville, Montgomery 
county. The Mohawk valley furnishes 
a large part of the New York city milk 
supply, as well as a large part of its 
cheese and butter. 

There are (1914) manufactures of 
dairy machinery (165 employes) and of 
butter color and dairy preparations (21 
employes) at Little Falls. A tendency 
toward organization among valley 
dairymen has become marked in recent 
years and there are many town and 
county dairymen's associations in ex- 
istence. Very recently (April, 1914) a 
movement has been started toward a 
comprehensive association of the dairy 
producers of the three principal valley 
dairy counties of Oneida, Herkimer 
and Montgomery, as the following clip- 
ping will show: 

Herkimer Citizen, April 7, 1914: 
Tuesday, in Herkimer, there was a 
meeting held of those interested in the 
formation of a Dairymen's League for 
this vicinity. The meeting was infor- 
mal and was for the purpose of talk- 
ing over the matter. It is proposed to 
have the organization take in the milk 
producers from Fort Plain to Holland 
Patent. A committee of sellers can 
act for the entire district. The follow- 
ing milk stations were represented at 



the meeting: Fort Plain, Little Falls, 
Middleville, Newport, Holland Patent, 
Prospect, Remsen, Trenton, Graves- 
ville, Indian Castle, Poland, Cedar- 
ville and Inghams Mills. 

That great good is expected as a re- 
sult of the organization is shown by a 
comparison of the prices in this [Her- 
kimer] section with those that prevail- 
ed at Holland Patent, where a Dairy- 
men's League has been formed and is 
in operation. The average for the Bor- 
den prices in this section is $1.20 for 
the six months. At Trenton it is 
UA7V2, at Holland Patent $1.55i/^ and 
at Gravesville $1.54 1-6. 



1805-1S09— Fulton county's glove and 
leather industry first started. 

Beers's "History of Montgomery and 
Fulton Counties" (1878) on page 175, 
gives a history of the origin of the glove 
and leather dressing business in Ful- 
ton count j^ It is in part as follows: 

The business started first, as such, in 
Kingsboro (now on the northern limits 
of Gloversville) in 1809. That village 
and the surrounding country was orig- 
inally settled by people from New Eng- 
land, many of whom were skilled in the 
manufacture of tin. They were of gen- 
uine Yankee stock, cute and indus- 
trious and unlike their Dutch neigh- 
bors along the Mohawk, took more 
naturally to manufacture and to trade 
than to farming. Hence they were ac- 
customed to manufacture tin, load a 
horse with it and, leading the beast up 
the Mohawk and "Chenango country," 
as it was then called, would exchange 
the tinware for wheat, also for any 
other products which they needed or 
could readily sell. 

The deer skins, one of which they 
generally bought for a medium sized 
tin basin, were sometimes rather a 
burden, for they were not used for 
much else than jackets and breeches, 
l)eing prized more particularly for the 
latter purpose, because of their lasting 
qualities — no small consideration in 
those days of comparative poverty, 
economy and hard work. 

The inhabitants had learned to tan 
the skins for clothing, according to the 
Indian process, using the brain of the 
deer itself, when convenient, but at 
this time often sul)stituting the brains 
of hogs for that purpose. It is said 
that the brains of a deer will tan the 
hide, containing as it does the same 
elements as the "soda ash" fat liquor 
in use at the present day. ***** 

About 1809 Tallmadge Edwards, for- 
merly a leather-dresser in England, 

* * * moved from Massachusetts to 
Jolinstown. In that year James Burr 

* * * * hired Edwards to come to 



336 



APPENDIX 



Kingsboro and teach them his art of 
dressing leather. Mr. Burr, in 1S09, 
made up a few pairs of mittens whicii 
he took up the Mohawk and bartered 
off. In the following year he made a 
considerable number and sold at least 
part of them l)y the dozen, the lirst 
transaction of the kind. He subse- 
quently made material improvements 
in the process of dressing skins, the 
most noticealjle of which was the in- 
vention of the "bucktail," for which he 
received a patent. The apparatus is 
still in use, l)ut the invention, like 
many others, proved rather a loss than 
otherwise to the inventor. 

At this time, and much later, no 
gloves were manufactuied, but only 
rough heavy mittens, which were need- 
ed to protect the hands of farmers and 
woodmen in cold and heavy labor. 
Even the leather which was produced 
up to a quite recent date [prior to 
1878] was unfit for the manufacture of 
gloves, ))eing too stiff and heavy. As 
lately as about * * * [1850], it is 
said, gloves were seldom cut, except 
an occasional pair, taken from the 
thinnest and most pliable parts of the 
skins. Gloves were originally cut, it is 
said, by laying a pasteboard pattern on 
the leather and following it with the 
shears. But very indifferent progress 
could be made in that way with the 
elastic leather now in use, and this fact 
shows the difference in quality quite 
distinctly. E. P. Newten started, in 
1859, the first general machine works 
in Fulton county for the manufacture 
of glo\'e and mitten cutting machines. 
The goods made in earlier days, how- 
ever uncouth, furnished a good means 
of disposing of surplus deer skins, 
which, instead of being a drug on the 
market, were eagerly sought for, and 
when made up, were returned, with the 
next parcel of tinware, to l)e rebar- 
tered to parties from whom the skins 
had been o))tained, besides l^eing put 
upon the market for sale to any who 
wished to purchase. Elisha Judson, it 
is said, carried east, about 1825, the 
first load of gloves ever driven into 
Boston. The trip took six weeks. 

In justice to others it may be said 
that the inception of Fulton county's 
glove business has been ascribed to 
others than those above mentioned. 
William C. Mills, in 1805, and Ezekiel 
Case (a former Cincinnati citizen) in 
180C, are said to have started leather 
dressing and glove making operations. 
However it is certain that some time, 
during the j'ears from 1805 to 1809, the 
leather dressing and glove making bus- 
iness f)f Fulton county began the start 
of its remarkable later growth. 

In 1912 over 7,000 persons were em- 
ployed in the glove industry and 
leather dressing business of Fulton 



county, and Johnstown and Glovers- 
ville did 80 per cent of the glove mak- 
ing of the United States. Johnstown 
and Gloversville are today (1914) the 
first towns in New York state in the 
manufacture of leather gloves and the 
dressing and preparation of leather. 
The latest invention in this industry 
is that of washable leather. 



1831 — Eliphalet Remington estab- 
lishes an arms factory at Ilion. 1873 — ■ 
Typewriter construction begun in 
Remington works at Ilion. 

In 1831, Eliphalet Remington jr. 
started a forge, at Ilion, Herkimer 
county, for the manufacture of gun 
barrels and firearms. He had pre- 
viously had a small forge on his 
father's farm at Steele's Creek, Her- 
kimer county. The business developed 
rapidly and during the years, 1861-5, 
furnished a large amount of arms to 
the Union armies, from the Reming- 
ton factory at Ilion and a branch fac- 
tory in Utica. About this time the 
Remington breech-loading gun was 
completed. In 1873, James Densmore, 
the inventor of the typewriter, came 
to Ilion and interested the Remingtons 
in his invention and shortly after the 
manufacture of typewriters began here, 
an industry which has developed into 
one of the largest in the valley. 

In 1912, in the Remington type- 
writer works, 2,851 hands were em- 
ployed and in the Remington arms 
works, 1,127 people were employed. 
Over 300 hands are employed in a fire- 
arm factory in Utica, making about 
1,500 people engaged in the manufac- 
ture of arms in the Mohawk valley. 



1832 — Cohoes knitting industry es- 
tablished. 

The father of the knitting business 
in this country was Egbert Egberts. 
While living in Albany in 1831, he be- 
came interested in the making of knit 
goods. Here he made his primary ex- 
periments in the construction of a 
knitting frame to be operated by 
power. Timothy Bailey, a practical 
mechanic, became associated with Eg- 
berts in this work of experimentation. 
Bailey built a wooden frame, which, 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



337 



when turned by hand, accomplished, in 
a small way, what Egberts desired. A 
knitting machine had already been in- 
vented. One was bought in Philadel- 
phia by Bailey and brought to Albany, 
and his contrivance was applied, so as 
to produce knit goods by turning a 
crank. In 1832 Egberts and Bailey re- 
moved to Cohoes. The new machine 
was arranged to run by water power. 
Soon eight of these machines were 
constructed by Timothy Bailey and set 
in motion. The next step was to com- 
mence carding and spinning, thus pre- 
paring their own yarn. In this way 
the foundation was laid for the ex- 
tensive knit goods business, which is 
an industry of the greatest importance 
in the Mohawk valley, and . in the 
United States as well. 

For some time the new invention 
was kept a secret. The doors were 
fastened by spring locks. Even Gen. 
George S. Bradford, who ran the mill 
by contract, was compelled to make an 
agreement that he would not enter the 
knitting room. Timothy Bailey, and 
a. foreman who worked with him, were 
the only ones who understood the ma- 
chines. 

In 1853 there were three knitting 
mills in Cohoes, employing 750 hands 
and producing 45,000 dozen goods an- 
nually. In 18S3 there were 25 knitting 
mills in Cohoes, with 177 sets of cards, 
595 knitting cylinders and 4,140 oper- 
ators. $1,000,000 was estimated to 
have been paid out annuallj^ about 
this period, to employes in the Cohoes 
knit goods business. In 1863 the man- 
ufacture of knitting machinery was 
begun on a considerable scale at 
Cohoes, the birthplace of the knitting 
industry, which is now (1914) one of 
the two mammoth industries of the 
valley — knit goods and the making of 
electrical machinery. In 1912, 17,000 
persons were employed in the knit 
goods industry in the Mohawk valley. 
There were factories in nineteen valley 
towns, with Utica, Amsterdam, Cohoes 
and Little Falls, the principal points 
of production in the order named. 



1836 — Cohoes, Harmony Mills (for 
the manufacture of white goods) es- 
tablished. 



Peter Harmony, a Spaniard, was the 
founder of these mills and from him 
they have taken their name. Asso- 
ciated with him were many local pub- 
lic-spirited men and capitalists (largely 
of Dutch ancestry). 

The company bought a tract of land 
about a quarter of a mile south of the 
Cohoes falls, and in 1837 erected a 
brick building, 165 feet long, 50 feet 
wide and four stories high, which com- 
plete with water-wheels, flumes, etc., 
cost $72,000. Three brick blocks were 
built at the same time, just west of the 
mill and divided into tenements for 
the use of the operatives. The mill 
was equipped with the best cotton ma- 
chinery then in use, and the manufac- 
ture of cotton cloth [or white goods] 
liegan under the most favorable cir- 
cumstances. 

Bad management or some other 
cause handicapped the project from 
the start and, in the thirteen years, 
from 1837 to 1850, the only year which 
showed a profit was the single year of 
1838. In 1850, under compulsory sale, 
the property was purchased by Gar- 
ner & Co. of New York, and Alfred 
Wild of Kinderhook. The annual pro- 
duct of the mill at that time was 1,500,- 
000 yards of print cloth; 700 bales of 
cotton were consumed, and 250 hands 
employed, a large number for that 
period in the valley. 

Under new management, the Har- 
mony mills prospered wonderfully and 
in 1883 they were the largest and most 
complete cotton manufacturing estab- 
lishment in the United States. New 
mills of the company, or acquired by 
it were built in 1844, 1846, 1849, 1853, 
1857, 1867, 1872. The north wing of 
the "Mastodon" or No. 3 mill, was built 
in 1866-7. In excavating for the foun- 
dation at the north end, a large pot 
hole was found in the bed of what had 
once been a stream of water. The pot 
hole was very deep, filled with peat, 
and at its bottom, 60 feet below the 
surface of the street, was found the 
almost perfect skeleton of a mastadon 
mammoth of a former age. The bones 
were carefully removed and presented 
to the state. They are now mounted 
and on exhibition in Geological Hall in 
Albany. 



338 



APPENDIX 



In 1912, 5,650 employes were at work 
in the white goods factories of the 
Mohawk valley, distributed as follows: 
Utica, 2,750; New York Mills, 1,800; 
Cohoes, 600; Capron, 250; New Hart- 
ford, 150; Little Falls, 100. Utica is 
the center of this industry for New 
York state. 



1840 — Amsterdam Carpet industry. 

In 1840, Wait, Greene & Co. of Haga- 
mans began the manufacture of car- 
pets. 

In 1842 William K. Greene withdrew 
from the firm of Wait, Greene & Co. of 
Hagamans Mills and came to Amster- 
dam where he started a carpet factory 
in a small factory where now stands 
the Greene Knitting Co. works. A few 
years later John Sanford acquired an 
interest in the business, which then re- 
moved to the old Harris mill further 
up the stream. Later Mr. Greene re- 
tired from the business and the firm 
thereafter became known as J. San- 
ford & Son. In 1853 the senior mem- 
ber retired and Stephen Sanford be- 
came sole proprietor. Later on the 
firm became S. Sanford & Sons and 
the Sanfords soon built up one of the 
largest carpet manufactories in the 
country. Several other carpet making 
establishments followed. 

In 1912, in Amsterdam, 4,100 persons 
were employed in the manufacture of 
carpets and rugs. 



1845 — The Schenectady Locomotive 
Works. 

About 1845 Schenectady became in- 
terested in the manufacture of loco- 
motives. Some enterprising citizens, 
among them Hon. Daniel D. Campbell, 
Simon C. Groot and others, conceived 
the idea of here erecting locomotive 
works. Associated with the incorpor- 
ators was John Ellis, "one of the 
shrewdest, ablest, hardheaded, Scotch- 
men and skilful mechanics the state 
has ever known." The Norris brothers 
of Philadelphia, about as eminent loco- 
motive builders as lived in the land, 
came to take control of the little plant. 
The Norrises started well, but for some 
reason, made a bad failure in the end. 
The stockholders took charge in 1850. 



A disagreement occurred, in fact grew 
chronic among the shareholders. Ellis 
(the original practical man of the 
company) had the strength of his con- 
victions and, when disputes arose, 
would not give way. He was the only 
real mechanic of the outfit and be- 
lieved he understood his business. The 
stockholders endeavored to get rid of 
him but with true Scottish tenacity he 
stuck to the works. Walter j\Ic- 
Queen was associated with Ellis, and 
McQueen was a grand mechanic, un- 
derstanding every phase of the busi- 
ness. The McQueen engine soon be- 
came known all over the United 
States. One of them, purchased by 
the government, rolled into Fairfax 
Court House, one fine afternoon in the 
fall of 1862, when the 134th was lying 
there drilling for the awful experi- 
ence they were to undergo. The Sche- 
nectady men recognized an old friend, 
and, swarming about it, patted it like 
a horse and would have hugged it if 
they could. The genius of McQueen 
and the business ability of Ellis were 
building up an immense plant, soon to 
rival the Baldwins of Philadelphia and 
the Rogers of Paterson. 

Yates's Schenectady County (1902) 
says: "Today the plant is one of the 
largest in the world, its workmanship 
unsurpassed and, in recent trials, out- 
stripping every locomotive on earth. 
'999' of the Empire State Express, was 
the admiration of every sightseer at 
the Columbian Exposition in Chicago 
[in 1893]. Yet '999' is an everyday en- 
gine now besides the monster of the 
type of 2207 [and of still later types]." 

In 1912 in Schenectady, 3,300 em- 
ployes were engaged in the manufac- 
ture of locomotives; in Rome 250 were 
employed in this industry, a total for 
the valley of 3,550 employes in locomo- 
tive manufacturing. 



1874— Dolgeville felt manufacturing 
established. 

In 1874, Alfred Dolge, a young Ger- 
man who was engaged in the import- 
ing of piano material in New York, 
and who also had started the domestic 
manufacture of piano felt in Brook- 
lyn, came up to Dolgeville, prospecting 



MOHAWK VALLEY CHRONOLOGY 



339 



for spruce wood, which is used in the 
manufacture of piano sounding boards. 
He purchased the tannery property 
and, in April, 1875, began his manu- 
facturing operations, which later de- 
veloped into the largest of their kind in 
the United States and included (1893) 
felt mills, felt shoe factories, factories 
for piano cases, piano sounding boards, 
piano hammers and lumber yards. In 
1875 Dolgeville's population numbered 
325. Alfred Dolge subsequently failed 
and removed to California, where he 
founded another Dolgeville. His in- 
dustries in Dolgeville (Herkimer and 
Pulton counties) have been continued 
in other hands and the felt industry is 
now the largest of its kind in New 
York state. 

In 1912, in Dolgeville, 713 persons 
were engaged in the manufacture of 
felt, and in Oriskany, 120, making a 
total for the felt industry of the valley 
of 833 employes. 



1878— Rome brass industry. 1887— 
Rome copper industry. 

In 1878 the manufacture of brass be- 
gan at Rome and in 1887 the manu- 
facture of copper began there. These 
are among the largest of the valley in- 
dustries. In 1912, in the Rome brass 
works, 1.800 employes were engaged; 
in Rome copper works, there were 600 
hands employed. 



1888— The General Electric Company 
comes to Schenectady. 

In 1888 there came a corporation to 
Schenectady which was destined to 
make it one of the chief manufacturing 
and electrical centers of the world. 
The Jones Car Works of Green Island 
had come to Schenectady (in 1872) and 
had established a plant on the present 
site of the General Electric Company. 
It failed (in 1884) and went into the 
hands of a receiver. Under the direc- 
tion of the court, its real estate was 
offered for sale. Hon. John A. De- 
Remer, the receiver, obtained an order 
from the court for the sale of the prop- 
erty for $45,000. The attention of the 
Edison Machine Works of Georck 
street, New York city, was attracted 



to it and negotiations were entered 
into. The company, then by no means 
a large corporation, examined the sit- 
uation and were struck by its advan- 
tages. Its directors discovered that 
they could not get in New York what 
they needed. Here then were railroad 
and canal connections, with all points 
of the compass at the door of their 
shops, and opportunities for experi- 
mental work along the bank of the 
canal were unequalled anywhere. But 
they would give but $37,000 for the 
whole outfit. The citizens took hold of 
the matter and private and personal 
subscription soon made up the $45,000. 
The original industry grew, daily in- 
creasing its output enormously and 
bringing work and workmen to the 
town. A connection was formed with 
Thompson and Houston, with immense 
plants in Lynn, Mass., and Orange, N. 
J. The works doubled in size and bus- 
iness. Like in all factory towns a great 
number of cheap saloons sprang up on 
Kruesi avenue, leading to the General 
Electric Works. The General Electric 
Company established its own restaur- 
ant in its works and desired to close up 
this street of saloons, besides which 
the company needed the land for the 
enlargement of its own works. 

In 1899 the citizens of Schenectady 
raised $30,000 by subscription, the 
street was purchased and given to the 
General Electric Company, the gift 
guarded only by the promise that if 
the plant removed from Schenectady, 
the property was to revert to the sub- 
scribers to the fund. The corporation 
soon showed its appreciation of this 
generosity of the people by a subscrip- 
tion of $15,000 to the local public li- 
brary and by many later public bene- 
factions. 

In 1897, the General Electric Com- 
pany did a business of $11,170,319; in 
1901, of $27,969,541. 60 per cent of this 
business was done at Schenectady. In 
1901, the employes of the company at 
Schenectady numbered 7,651, with a 
pay roll of $100,000 per week. 

In 1912, in the General Electric Co.'s 
works at Schenectady, 17,000 persons 
were employed. The works are con- 
stantly enlarging and form one of the 



340 



APPENDIX 



world's great industries. They liave 
made Sciienectady from a quiet village 
of 1880 into a great city in 1914. 



The woodworking establishments of 
Herkimer, including desks, house and 
office furniture, and wood trim, em- 
ployed 1,202 hands in 1912. 

The wood manufactures of the Mo- 
hawk valley, including the above and 
other branches, constitute one of the 
largest industries of the six valley 
counties. About 2,500 persons were 
engaged in the wood manufactures in 
these counties (1912), principally in 
Herkimer, Oneida and Montgomery, in 
the order named. Herkimer was the 
center of this industry and Herkimer 
county employed nearly four-fifths of 
the operatives in valley wood manu- 
factures, principally at Herkimer, Lit- 
tle Falls and Ilion. 



Metal manufactures and iron found- 
ing employed several thousand people 
in the Mohawk valley in 1912, in many 
widely varying industries, including 
the making of metal beds and heating 
apparatus, at Utica and Rome. 



sons in the six Mohawk valley coun- 
ties, 1,600 of whom were operatives in 
Utica industries of this character. 



Silk manufactures and silk throwing 
and winding employed, in 1912, over 
1,500 persons in the six Mohawk valley 
counties. 



The packing of food products, in- 
cluding canned goods, employed over 
1,500 operatives, in the six Mohawk 
valley counties in 1912. Over 1,100 of 
these were hands employed in factories 
in Oneida county, over 300 in Canajo- 
harie, Montgomery county, and the 
balance in several small factories else- 
where. 



Clothing, millinery, etc., manufac- 
tures, in 1912, employed over 1,700 per- 



Broom factories, in 1912, in the six 
Mohawk vallej' counties, employed 
over 900 operatives. Broom corn grow- 
ing was at one time an important fea- 
ture of valley agriculture, but has been 
entirely discontinued for about twenty 
years. Broom making machinery and 
broom appliances are also made in the 
valley. Amsterdam was the center of 
Mohawk valley broom making, over 
800 hands being there employed in 1912. 



APPENDIX 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



The editor of this work regrets that 
the greater part of the matter in this 
Appendix could not be contained in the 
main body of this boolt; a number of 
causes prevented its insertion there. 
This Appendix contains some of the 
most interesting matter concerning the 
history of our valley. In any future 
edition of this work the following pages 
will be put in their proper place in the 
main body of this book. The following 
series and chapter headings relate to 
similar ones in the major portion of 
the work. That is the Appendix chap- 
ter numbers indicate the chapter to 
which its matter properly belongs in 
the main body of the book. The editor 
of this work suggests the main chap- 
ters be read first and that the reader 
then turn to the Appendix and read the 
added matter relative to each chapter 
herein contained. 



SERIES I. 



CHAPTER I. 
The Mohawks and Six Nations — The 
Iroquoian Tribes of North America — 
The Iroquois Legend of Hiiawatha. 
With the continued publication of 
this work, in weekly newspaper form, 
it has grown from a study dealing with 
a section of the middle Mohawk val- 
ley into a general historical review of 
life along the Mohawk river. It is 
therefore deemed best by the editor to 
add the following general sketch of the 
Mohawk Indians and of the Five Na- 
tions or later Six Nations (also called 
the Iroquois confederacy), of which the 
Mohawks were a part. The Five 
Nations formed themselves only a 
part (although the most powerful) of a 
great family of Indian tribes which is 



called the Iroquoian. The life, cus- 
toms, wars and legends of the Five 
Nations were common to all the five 
tribes, including of course the Mo- 
hawks. Therefore the life and story of 
the Mohawk tribe forms most interest- 
ing reading to the valley people of the 
present. However, it is a most volumi- 
nous subject, and the reader is referred 
to works dealing especially with the 
Iroquois. In these pages the story of 
the Mohawks is interwoven with that 
of the white peoples of the valley. The 
following general sketch and the great 
legend of the Iroquois, Hiawatha, is 
given in the following pages and will 
be found of interest. 

The Delawares have a legend that 
their remote ancestors and those of the 
Iroquois originally formed one tribe 
long ages ago, which, through the cen- 
turies, gradually worked their way 
from westward of the Rocky moun- 
tains to east of the Alleghanics, the 
two peoples eventually separating into 
two nations. 

The Mohawk valley and the six Mo- 
hawk valley counties formed the home 
of two of the tribes of the Iroquois 
league — the Mohawks in the eastern 
half and the Oneidas mostly in Oneida 
county. 

The Mohawks (also formerly written 
Mohocs) are commonly regarded by 
historians as among the most power- 
ful and intelligent of our savage abori- 
gines; of good stature and athletic 
frames, naturally warlike and brave, 
they possessed in large measure all the 
qualities making up the savage's high- 
est type of man. Simms says the word 
Mohawk comes from an Indian word 
meaning "muskrat" and the river was 
so called because of the numerous 
muskrats which lived in its banks. In 



342 



APPENDIX 



the eighteenth century the country of 
the Mohawks extended from the mouth 
of their river westward to about the 
present location of Franl<fort. West of 
that was the country of the Oneidas 
extending westward to the Onondaga 
country. The Oneidas were mostly lo- 
cated in the county of that name, their 
chief castle being on Oneida creek, the 
western boundary of Oneida county, 
about six miles from where it empties 
into Oneida lake. 

From a historical address delivered 
by Percy M. Van Bpps of Glenville, 
Schenectady county, in 1913, at a re- 
union of the Rockefeller family in Am- 
sterdam: 

Here in our \'alley we have with us 
the handiwork and traces of several 
different peoples. Not to speak at all 
of certain forms of stone implements, 
that by some have been called paleo- 
lithic and assigned a great anticiuity, 
we come to a class of objects about 
which we can speak with more cer- 
tainty. 

In the closing days or centuries of 
the glacial period, when, due to some 
unknown climatic change, the great 
sheet of ice was melting and it.s south- 
ern border was slowly creeping north- 
ward, there came a time when the 
ancient valley of the St. Lawrence, yet 
blocked by the retreating glacier front, 
held back its waters, causing for a 
time the existence of a mammoth in- 
terior lake, occupying not only the 
jiresent sites of Lake Erie and Lake 
Ontario but of much additional terri- 
tory. This ancient glacial lake is 
known to scientists as Lake Iroquois. 

For a time the Mohawk valley served 
as an outlet for this lake or rather in- 
terior sea [of fresh water]. It now ap- 
pears certain that a race or tribe of 
people followed closely the retreating 
glacier front and lived for a time in 
our valley, while yet it served as an 
outlet for Lake Iroquois. It is very 
likely that they were a people closely 
resemliling the Eskimos, perhaps their 
ancestors. The river at this period 
flowed at a far higher level than at 
present and the traces of this people 
iiave all been found at high levels 
along the sides of the valley, or on the 
bluffs and hills above. 

After the glacier and the fur clad 
people had disappeared far to the 
north, a new race came into the 
valley, probably from the west. They 
were probably predecessors of the In- 
dians of colonial times, but the class 
of relics left by this race differs greatly 
from the Indian relics of later date. 
Little is known about this people. * * 
Next in order, as we interpret the rec- 



ords, came the Mohicans or Eastern 
Indians. They evidently occupied the 
eastern end of our valley for a long 
time and perhaps three-fourths of all 
the surface relics found were left by 
them. 

The Mohawks came to this valley 
for a permanent home, not until after 
Jacques Cartier had made his memor- 
able voyage up the St. Lawrence [in 
1534]. Cartier found Mohawks liv- 
ing at Hochlega, above the present site 
of Montreal. 

Some time after this date the Mo- 
hawks had a bloody battle with an Al- 
gonquin nation and were whipped and 
well nigh exterminated. The remnant 
fled southward through the wilderness 
and sought shelter in three secluded 
glens bordering our river. Here in 
their fortified villages they lived until 
they again became a strong nation, 
when, abandoning their forest homes 
they built their long houses on the very 
banks of the Mohawk. This happened 
just prior to the arrival- of the Dutch 
in our valley in 1623-30. [Indian Hill, 
near P^ort Plain, Montgomery county, is 
supposed to be the site of one of these 
three castles referred to.] 

The Mohicans disputed the Mo- 
hawks' claims to the valley and in 1669, 
despite the strong protest of the En- 
glish, sent an expedition against them 
from Massachusetts. A battle was 
fought below Amsterdam, and, in the 
second day's fight (which occurred at 
the foot of a steep hill at Hoffmans 
called Towereune), the Mohicans were 
utterly routed with many of their num- 
ber killed, among whom was their 
chief, Chic-a-tau-bet. 

Ceers's History says: 

It is difficult to locate the sites of the 
Mohawk villages, designated castles, a 
term which implied places furnished 
with palisades or some other protec- 
tion that distinguished them from 
more migratory and less defensible 
villages. At an early day these Indians 
built their huts near together, the bet- 
ter to resist the invading foe. Great 
danger from an enemy, however, some- 
times compelled a migration of the 
camp, or convenience of hunting and 
fishing dictated it. The Mohawks once 
had a strong castle nearly four miles 
south of Fort Plain, in a well-chosen 
position on an elevated tongue of land 
between two streams, called Indian 
Hill [See Chap. XV., Series III., P. 301 
of this work]. This plateau presents, 
on the west toward the Otsquene, an 
impracticable l)luff. The northern de- 
clivity of the hill is more gentle, and 
thirty or forty rods lielow its termina- 
tion the stream mentioned [the Ots- 
quene] empties into the Otsquago. 
Upon the hillside the entrance of the 
castle may still be traced, as the ground 
has never been cultivated. The relics 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



343 



found here, including fragments of pot- 
tery, bones, l)one implements, fresh 
water clam shells, etc., indicate that 
the place was proliably early and long 
one of the chief strongholds of the 
tribe. It is believed that the occu- 
pancy of this site should be dated more 
than 250 years ago. The Mohawks also 
had a castle within the present limits 
of Fort Plain, at the termination of the 
hi.gh ground on the east side of the 
Otsquago, now called Prospect Hill. 
The site was occupied much later than 
the other, as shown by the discovery of 
rings, wampum shells, etc., introduced 
by the Jesuits or others of the first 
white men who ventured into the val- 
ley. The position of this village was 
also well chosen for defence and ob- 
servation. It is said to have been call- 
ed by the Indian Ta-ragh-jo-rees — 
"Healthy Place." [This village is called 
Osquage in the Dutch account of 1634. 
This may have been the name of the 
village while Taraghjorees was the 
name of the hill on which it stood. 
Taraghjorees has been translated "hill 
of health."] 

For a description of some of the In- 
dian villages along the Mohawk in 
1634, see the account of Dutch travelers 
of that date in Chap. I., Series I. of this 
work. This book does not pretend to 
place the sites of Mohawk villages in 
the valley. It is a much discussed 
question. In this work authorities are 
quoted, which seem to the editor rea- 
sonable and logical. 

It has been previously noted that, 
practically throughout the eighteenth 
century, the Mohawks had but two 
principal towns or castles along our 
river — one at Dyiondarogon (or Tion- 
onderoga) at Fort Hunter, Montgomery 
county, and the other at Canajoharie 
or Fort Canajoharie (after the erection 
of a fortification there in 1755), at 
present Indian Castle In the town of 
Danube, Herkimer county. Canajo- 
harie was called the upper and Dyion- 
darogon the lower Mohawk castle. 

Dyiondarogon or Tionderoga is also 
written Icanderoga and Teondeloga. It 
is said the meaning of one (or all) of 
these words is "two streams coming to- 
gether," referring to the junction of 
the Schoharie with the Mohawk at 
present Fort Hunter, near which this 
Mohawk palisaded village or lower 
"castle" was located. Canajoharie, the 
name of the upper "castle" has been 
(as before mentioned) translated by 



Brant as meaning "the pot that washes 
itself," referring to that natural curi- 
osity, the great pothole at the end of 
the gorge of Canajoharie creek in Can- 
ajoharie village. The Mohawks gave 
the name Canajoharie to the whole 
river country between the Noses and 
Little Falls, as before stated, and the 
Canajoharie village and fort, at pres- 
ent Indian Castle, took its name from 
this Indian district. 

Because it was the most warlike 
tribe of the Six Nations or the Iroquois 
confederacy, the war chief of the 
league was selected from the Mohawk 
nation. The council fire was kept by 
the central tribe, the Onondagas. The 
Five Nations numbered about 13,000 at 
the advent of the Dutch in 1609, with 
over 2,000 warriors. " 

The following relative to the Iro- 
quoian Indians (of which the Six Na- 
tions were a part), is largely taken or 
condensed from an article on the sub- 
ject by J. N. B. Hewitt in Appleton's 
Encyclopedia: 

The Indians of the Six Nations or 
the Iroquois confederacy were a branch 
of the Iroquoian family of red men. 
perhaps the most important of the In- 
dian families of tribes in North Amer- 
ica. As before stated the Iroquois con- 
federacy or Six Nations of the eigh- 
teenth century was composed of the 
Mohawks, Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Onon- 
dagas, Cayugas and Senecas, in the 
order named, from east to west. The 
Mohawks occupied the valley of the 
river to which they gave their name. 
The word Iroquois is said to mean in 
Algonquin "real, natural snakes" — an 
application which seemed natural to 
the Algonquin tribes who were deadly 
enemies of the Iroquois. 

The Iroquois of the Six Nations 
called themselves the Aguinoshioni or 
Konoshioni, signifying cabin makers or 
people of the I^ong House. This "Long 
House" became figurative of their po- 
litical organization, extending from the 
shores of Lake Erie to tlie banks of the 
Hudson. The Mohawks kept the "east- 
ern door" the Senecas the "western 
door." 

The chief tribes of the Iroquoian In- 
dians were the Hurons, Wyandots, 
Tionontates (or Tobacco nation), the 
Attiewendaronk (or Neuter nation), 
the Eries or Cat (Raccoon) nation, the 
Canastogas (or Susquehannocks), the 
Tceroki (Cherokee) nation., the Notto- 
ways and the Six Nations or the Iro- 
(luois confederacy — Mohawks (or Cani- 
engas), Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Onon- 



344 



APPENDIX 



dagas, Cayugas and Senecas. These 
latter are generally termed the Iro- 
quois. [All these Iroquoian Indians 
were probably descendants of one or- 
iginal tribe, which later Ijecanie many 
times subdivided. The Six Nations 
probably formed one tribe at one time, 
which later' became divided into the 
six tribes or nations.] 

The Iroquoian Indians, before the 
coming of the white man, occupied 
New York, Pennsylvania, the region 
about Lake Eric, north of Lake On- 
tario and the St. I.,awrence valley. 
Others of the kindred tril)es of the Iro- 
quoian family lived in two areas in the 
present southern states — one in the 
eastern Carolinas, and the other partly 
in the western Carolinas, and parts 
of the states of Georgia, Alabama, 
Tennessee, Kentucky and the Vir- 
ginias. (See map of the "Linguistic 
Stocks of American Indians North of 
Mexico." Vol. VI., Appleton's Enclo- 
pedia.) 

The Huron or Wyandot tribe lived 
about Lake Simcoe and the St. I-.aw- 
rence; the Tionontates (or Tobacca na- 
tion), west of Lake Ontario and south 
of the Hurons and in New York; the 
Eries or Cat (Raccoon) nation, south 
of Lake Erie; the Wenrohronan, south- 
east of the Eries in Pennsylvania; the 
Canastogas (or Susquehannocks), and 
their allies, along the Susquehanna; 
and the Iroquois or Five Nations in 
Central New York. 

The western southern Iroquoian 
area was occupied by the Tceroki 
(Cherokees) and the eastern southern 
Iroquoian area was the home of the 
Tuskaroras, the Nottoway.s and other 
kindred but unimportant tribes. Many 
of the tribes mentioned, although of 
kindred blood, were deadly enemies 
and waged a constant war against 
each other. 

Says Hewitt regarding Iroquoian 
characteristics: 

The marriage tie was not a liond of 
strength, lieing broken for the good or 
the convenience of the persons or 
families concerned. * * * The line 
of descent was in the female, and the 
children were virtually the I)ropert^' of 
the clan rather than of the family, 
which was only a subdivision of the 
clan. 

In the Iroquoian pantheon the gods 
of the sky, the sun, the moon and 
earth, the stars, thunder and lightning, 
storm and wind., fire and of dreams 
(the mouthpiece of the sky god) were 
the chief and most influential. The 
treatment of disease and wounds was 
in the hands of the shamans [medi- 
cine men] mainly. 

Long-hou.ses of bark and saplings 
for dwellings, and caches of riven 
pieces of timber for the storage of their 
[maize], vegetables, roots, squashes 



and gourds, were built by these peo- 
ple. They constructed palisades 
around their chief towns or ^•illages. 
The tillage of the land was carried on 
mainly by the women and girls, but 
labor was not considered degrading. 
They raised tobacco and many kinds 
of vegetables, including a kind of po- 
tato. Thej^ also manufactured sugar 
and syrup from the sap of the maple 
tree, and it was fi'om them that the 
white people learned the process of this 
manufacture. 

Their government was in the hands 
of chiefs divided into two classes, one 
of each class belonging to every clan. 
These chiefs were nominated by the 
suffrages of the women of the clan to 
A\ hich they lielonged by liirth or adop- 
tion, but such nomination had to be 
passed upon by the tribal, and among 
the Iroquois (Five Nations) by the 
federal council as well. The chiefs held 
office for life unless deposed for cause. 
In statecraft the Iroejuois were politic 
and crafty but, magnanimous to cap- 
tives [provided they were spared from 
torture]. Their cunning and caution 
were proverbial among their Indian 
neighbors. The adojjtion of captives 
into full citizenship with the free Iro- 
quois, to rejjlace those who had been 
lost in battle or by capture, was a 
marked policy of the Irofpiois league; 
and it was by means of these adopted 
aliens under the discipline of Iro- 
quoian institutions and under the guid- 
ance of Iroquoian commanders, that 
the confederacy was able to complete 
its war-parties, depleted liy almost in- 
cessant warfare, and to hold high its 
name and power for so long a period. 
During the lon.g period of their inter- 
course with the Dutch and English 
colonists before the Revolution, these 
Indians were remarkably noted for 
their good faith, when once their word 
was given. 

Woman's position was high among 
the Iroquois. Property was vested in 
them and they could command cessa- 
tion of war. They were the suffrage 
sex, as previously mentioned. The 
general council of the Five Nations 
consisted of two delegates from the 
Senecas. the most numerous triVie, and 
one each from the Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagas, and Cayugas. 

In the foregoing the word "Iro- 
quoian" refers to the entire North Am- 
erican Indian family, of many tribes as 
stated but of similar blood. The word 
Iroquois has been applied to that par- 
ticular New York state confederation 
of these people known first as the Five 
Nations and after 1722, as the Six Na- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



345 



tions. It is to this people, of which the 
Mohawks formed a part, that refer- 
ence is made when the Iroquois are 
mentioned in the following lines: 

Notwithstanding all their wars, 
which were chiefly undertaken to 
maintain national independence, there 
is to be found, among the nobler traits 
of the Iroquois, a strong love for peace, 
a great regard for law and custom, a 
reverent homage paid to ancestral 
greatness, a lively sentiment of the 
brotherhood of man, and strong social 
and domestic affections. 

The league was originally designed 
to be a permanent central government, 
rather than a temporary union of peo- 
ples and common interests. 

Local matters concerning individual 
tribes were to be determined, as for- 
merly, by the local council, but after 
that the council was to be guided by 
the principles of the federal consti- 
tution. The federal government was 
lodged in the hands of fifty chiefs of 
the highest order, divided unequally 
among the tribes, who were also mem- 
bers of the tribal council of the tribe 
to which they belonged. The tenure of 
office of these chiefs was for life, unless 
deposed for cause, and their official 
acts in all things was acknowledged 
throughout the entire confederacy. 
One of the distinctive features of this 
league was the avowed purpose of its 
founders to abolish war and murder by 
the peaceful expansion of the confed- 
eracy so as to induce all the tribes of 
men to adopt its principles and to 
agree to live under its institutions; 
notwithstanding this, the history of the 
league is one of almost incessant war- 
fare. 

The first known act of the league 
from the valley of the St. Lawrence, 
the direct result of which was to em- 
broil the [Iroquois] confederates with 
the Huron tribes living about Lake 
Simcoe, to whom the fugitives from 
the St. Lawrence had fled for protec- 
tion. 

In 1534 Cartier met a tribe of Iro- 
quoian stock, living on the Bay of 
Gaspe. and his is the first historic 
mention of this most interesting Indian 
people. Before the year 1600, the Five 
Nations had waged war with all 
the Algonquian tribes whose lands 
were coterminous with those from 
which the Hurons had been expelled. 
In 1622 this struggle was at its height. 
In the year 1609, Champlain, espousing 
this quarrel of the Hurons and Algon- 
quians, marched with them and several 
Frenchmen against the Iroquois and 
succeeded in defeating a party of these 
[probably Mohawks] on the banks of 
Lake Champlain. The confederacy 
never forgave the French, and the Iro- 
quois opposition thus aroused eventu- 
ally cost France her North American 



possessions. In 1615, Champlain, who 
had invaded the Iroquois country, was 
defeated in the Onondaga section, and, 
wounded himself, was driven back to 
Canada. 

The wars of the Iroquois to maintain 
independence continued with a few 
short intervals, until 1649, when the 
Iroquois drove from their Simcoe coun- 
try the remnants of the Huron tribes 
whom they had not killed or taken into 
captivity. The victorious Iroquois 
then began a war with the Neuter na- 
tion, which culminated in 1651 in the 
utter dispersion of this people by death 
or capture. In the meantime the To- 
bacco nation had been compelled to flee 
to the region about Lake Superior to 
seek an asylum among Algonquin 
tribes. The Fries or Cat (Raccoon) 
nation also were almost annihilated 
and the survivors were forced to aban- 
don their country in 1655. In 1657 a 
long and bloody war broke out between 
the Iroquois and the Canestogas and, 
with short cessation, lasted until the 
year 1676, when the Iroquois succeeded 
in dispersing the remnants of this 
brave and warlike people. In the south 
the Iroquois were at times engaged in 
war with the Tceroki [Cherokees], 
their hereditary enemies, and a peo- 
ple of their own lineage [as were also 
many of the foes of the Iroquois with 
whom they waged warfare]. The Iro- 
quois again were almost constantly at 
war with their Algonquian and other 
neighbors, east, west, north and south 
of them. The Abenakis, Mohegans, 
Ojibwas, Etchemins. Montagnais, Del- 
awares, Illinois, Miamis, Nanticokes, 
Shawnees, Tuteloes, Saponys, Catabas 
and various other tribes, at one time 
and another, felt the displeasure of the 
Iroquois. [The struggle between the 
Mohicans and Mohawks, ending with 
the victory of the Mohawks, in a great 
two day battle in 1669 at Towereune, 
near Hoffmans, Schenectady county, 
has been previously mentioned.] In 
these same wars the Iroquois carried 
out their policy of adopting their cap- 
tives by tribes, clans and by individ- 
uals; but it is also true that they 
burned at the stake many of their pris- 
oners to intimidate their enemies, but 
mainly as a sacrifice to the god of war. 
Notwithstanding that the successful 
career of the Iroquois places them, in- 
tellectually and physically, among the 
highest developed people on the conti- 
nent, it is equally true that other 
causes contributed materially to give 
them the vast power and influence they 
acquired over their neighbors during 
the century and a half ending with 
their defeat in 1779 by Gen. Sullivan 
[and Gen. Clinton and their American 
forces at Elmira]. The chief of these 
is the fact that the Dutch, finding that 
the Iroquois preferred guns and pow- 
der to other merchandise, began selling 



346 



APPENDIX 



firearms and ammunition to tlie Iro- 
quois. 

The Tuscaroras, in attempting to re- 
sist the encroacliments of the white 
settlers of tlie Carolinas, became en- 
gaged in a war with those pioneers. 
The red men were defeated and came 
and found homes among the Iroquois 
in 1714. The Five Nations allowed the 
Tuscaroras to settle on lands lying on 
the affluents of the Susquehanna and 
a few probably joined themselves at 
this time to particular tribes of the 
Five Nations. After 1722 the Five Na- 
tions became called the Six Nations, 
the Tuscaroras being the sixth tribe of 
the confederacy. 

There were white settlers at Schen- 
ectady in the Mohawk country as early 
as 1642 and probably before. In 1661 
Schenectady was ofRcially settled by 
Dutch colonists on land bought from 
the Mohawks. By 1700 the valley of 
the Mohawk was occupied by white 
pioneers from the mouth of its river 
to Hoffmans, a distance of nearly 
thirty miles. The Mohawks were gen- 
erally kind to these Dutch settlers and 
several marriages between the two 
races occurred. Some of the most 
prominent early men of the valley had 
Mohawk blood in their veins. In 1689 
Hendrick Frey settled at Palatine 
Bridge on lands he purchased from the 
Mohawks. In 1713 Palatine Germans 
located along the Schoharie and on 
the Mohawk on lands bought or given 
them by the valley Indians. It is said 
these Schoharie settlers would have 
perished had not the Indians provided 
them with food and shelter. About 
this time the Mohawks began to lose 
their lands, through fraudulent pur- 
chases and grants by the Crown to 
provincial favorites and schemers. 
Many of the grants were proper and 
just but even more were doubtless 
crooked and unjustly deprived the val- 
ley Indians of their lands. The tribe 
had become weakened by alcohol and 
the diseases brought in by the white 
settlers. The leading men of the Mo- 
hawks fought the traffic in liquor and 
the Dutch-Mohawk council at Caugh- 
nawaga, held in 16.59, had the suppres- 
sion of the sale of spirits among the 
red men as one of its objects. In one 
winter of the seventeenth century it is 
said 1,000 Mohawks died of smallpox 



which originated among the Dutch at 
Fort Orange. With these diseases and 
excesses came a degeneracy of the 
Mohawk character and physique. 

Among the more important events 
affecting the Mohawks, which trans- 
pired in the valley from the beginning 
of the eighteenth century to the com- 
mencement of the French and Indian 
war, were the following: In 1709 four 
Mohawk chiefs, representing the Iro- 
quois league, accompanied Col. Peter 
Schuyler to England, with the object 
of cementing the Iroquois-English al- 
liance. King Hendrick, of the upper 
or Canajoharie Castle, was one of 
these. In 1738 William Johnson set- 
tled near present Amsterdam. He was 
the greatest white friend the Mohawks 
ever had, from 1738 until his death in 
1774, and always fought the liquor 
traffic among them. About 1745 he 
was made a chief of the Mohawks by 
that tribe. (See Chronology of Sir 
William Johnson's life in Mohawk 
Valley Chronology.) 

In 1754 (then Col.) Johnson attended 
that momentous council of representa- 
tives from some of the colonies, which 
met at Albany to discuss plans for 
colonial defense against the French, 
and which is said to have been the 
initial step in the formation of the 
United States. Johnson in full Indian 
regalia was present with a party of 
Mohawks and other Iroquois. King 
Hendrick here made a celebrated 
speech (quotations from which are 
made in Chap. II., Series I.) and which 
shows him a great orator as well as a 
great Iroquois character. Hendrick 
was killed while leading a party of 
Mohawks in the battle of Lake George, 
which the English, under Gen. John- 
so 's leadership, won from the French. 

The part the Iroquois played in 
the wars between France and England 
in America, their general resistance to 
France (particularly in the case of the 
Mohawks) and their course and part in 
the Revolution are told in the body of 
this book and in the Mohawk Valley 
Chronology and in the Mohawk Valley 
Military Statistics in the appendix of 
this work. It was almost entirely the 
powerful influence of Sir William 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



347 



Johnson, the colonial Indian superin- 
tendent for the British crown, that 
kept the Iroquois sided with the En- 
glish cause against the French in the 
dread Seven Years War which made 
all North America an English-speak- 
mg empire, as it is today in the twC 
political divisions of the United States 
and Canada. 

In 1768 at a council held at Fort 
Stanwix the Iroquois deeded a consid- 
erable part of their lands to the British 
Crown. In 1776 the greater part of the 
Mohawks left the valley for Canada, 
with Col. Guy Johnson, superintendent 
of Indian affairs. They fought under 
the British colors during the Revolu- 
tion and their savage record of un- 
speakable barbarity is written in these 
pages. In their cruel and vile methods 
of guerilla warfare they were equalled 
by the Tories who frequently painted 
themselves as red men and were called 
blue-eyed Indians. The Mohawks, On- 
ondagas, Cayugas and Senecas sided 
with England in the Revolution, while 
the Oneidas and part of the Tuscaroras 
fought on the side of the colonists. 
The Oneidas lived during the war at 
Fort Hunter and Schenectady and 
formed a scouting force of great ser- 
vice in American valley military opera- 
tions. Most accounts say it was an 
Oneida who shot, killed and scalped 
-the infamous Walter Butler at the bat- 
tle of Butler's Ford on West Canada 
creek in 1781. Simms, however, says 
it was a friendly Mohawk. In 1784 and 
1788 councils between the Iroquois and 
New York state authorities were held 
at Fort Stanwix. On account of their 
fight against the colonists the Iroquois's 
title to their lands was extinguished 
and their country was thrown open for 
settlement. Reservations for the Six 
Nations were made in different parts 
of the state. The Iroquois threatened 
war but wiser counsel prevailed and 
the red men accepted the inevitable. 
The Mohawks and many of the other 
tribes settled in Canada on lands 
granted them by the Crown. 

The Mohawk tribe of the eighteenth 
century produced two great Indian 
chiefs — King Hendrick and Joseph 
Brant. The eminent historian, John 



Fiske, calls Joseph Brant the most re- 
markable Indian in our history. His 
clever sister, Molly Brant, who was the 
second wife of Sir William Johnson, 
exemplified the possibilities of the fem- 
inine Indian character. All three of 
these interesting Mohawks were resi- 
dents, a large part of their lives, of 
Canajoharie or Fort Canajoharie (also 
called Fort Hendrick) at present Indian 
Castle in the town of Danube, Herki- 
mer county. 

As before stated, it is said that the 
successful example of the Iroquois re- 
public had a great influence with the 
founders of the United States of Am- 
erica in the formation of our own 
greater republic 

A few friendly Mohawks and other 
Indians remained in the valley after 
the war but by 1850 probably the last 
of these remnants of a once powerful 
race in the valley had died out or 
moved away with the exception of 
what Oneidas may have been then re- 
maining in Oneida county. 

Says Appleton's Encyclopedia: 

The tribes and portions of tribes 
that sided with Great Britain [in the 
Revolution] are now situated on the 
Grand river, Canada, on lands granted 
them by the crown. These consist of 
Mohawks, Cayugas, Oneidas, Onon- 
dagas, Senecas and Tuscaroras, who 
maintain nearly unchanged their an- 
cient form of government under the 
protection of the British government. 
They hold their lands by patents, indi- 
vidually. Their farms are well culti- 
vated, and their industry is markedly 
in contrast with that of some of their 
brethren in New York state. They 
have a flourishing agricultural society 
which holds semi-annual sessions, and 
their exhibits of produce and stock 
fully equal, and in some instances sur- 
pass, those of the towns surrounding 
them. The fostering care of the Ca- 
nadian government is directed wisely 
for their advancement. 

Other reservation residences of the 
Six Nations are as -follows: Oneidas, 
south of Oneida, New York, and at 
Green Bay, Wisconsin; these are said 
to be the most prosperous of the Six 
Nations living in the United States 
today (1914); Onondagas, south of 
Syracuse, New York; Senecas in New 
York at Cattaraugus, Allegany, Tona- 
wanda; Tuscaroras in Niagara county. 
New York, who are said to be "as a 



348 



APPENDIX 



whole, more enlightened and better 
educated than any other tribe in the 
state, and are self supporting. Their 
farms are fairly well tilled and they 
have many fine orchards." 

The total number of Iroquoian 
Indian tribes or all peoples of Iro- 
quoian blood in the United States and 
Canada in 1910 may be estimated at 
close to 60,000, making them the most 
numerous Indian family of North Am- 
erica. This includes the Cherokees, 
who live in the eastern part of Okla- 
homa, in what was formerly the Indian 
territory, to which they emigrated 
early in the nineteenth century. Ap- 
pleton's says "they are the most highly 
developed and enlightened North Am- 
erican Indians." They numbered 42,000 
in 1910. The Cherokees are said to be 
the richest tribe of people in the world. 
In 1910 New York had 6,029 Indians, 
almost entirely Iroquois, on its differ- 
ent reservations. 

The 1890 population of the Six Na- 
tions, in both the United States and 
Canada, was as follows: Mohawks, 
6,656; Oneidas, 3,129; Senecas, 3,055; 
Cayugas, 1,301; Onondagas, 890; Tus- 
caroras, 733. Total, 15,764. 



With the Iroquois, and their tribes 
of Mohawks, Oneidas, Tuscaroras, On- 
ondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, is as- 
sociated the greatest legend of the 
North American continent, one of the 
greatest also of world myths — the story 
of Hiawatha. 

The legend of Hiawatha belongs as 
much to the Mohawks as to -the Onon- 
dagas, although the scene of Hiawa- 
tha's life is at Lake Teonto, or Cross 
lake, and at Onondaga lake. Cross 
lake lies a mile or two north of the 
Seneca river into which it flows, 
about fifteen miles west of Syracuse. 
It lies in the watershed of the Os- 
wego river and forms part of the bor- 
der line between Onondaga and Cay- 
uga counties and is about four or five 
miles long by about a mile in width. 
It should bear the name Teonto instead 
of Cross lake. Onondaga lake, which 
marks the final scene of Hiawatha's 
life, is at Syracuse. 

The Hiawatha poem of Longfel- 



low, derived from the Iroquois legend, 
is a beautiful heroic epic, embodying 
not only the essence of ideal Indian 
life but of human life as well. While 
it varies markedly from the Iroquois 
legend it contains the same basic ele- 
ments. The story of a divine redeemer 
of humanity living among his chosen 
people (as did Hiawatha) is common 
to all the higher races of mankind, the 
world over, as is also the idea of sac- 
rifice, for humanity's benefit, which is 
part of the Iroquois legend as it is of 
so many others. Here we have also 
the return to his divine home by the 
redeemer as the final scene of his 
earthly life. Doubtless there are, in 
the legend of Hiawatha, many fun- 
damental truths concerning the history 
of the Iroquois. 

The Iroquois of the Six Nations be- 
lieved they sprang from the earth it- 
self — a common tradition among the 
primitive peoples. Their legends say: 

In the remote ages the Iroquois had 
been confined under a mountain near 
the falls of the Osh-wa-kee or Oswego 
river, whence they were released by 
Tharonhyjagon, the Holder of the 
Heavens. Bidding them go forth to 
the east, he guided them to the valley 
of the Mohawk and, following its 
stream, they reached the Hudson 
which some of them descended to the 
sea. Retracing their steps toward the 
west they originated in their order and 
position the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onon- 
dagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscar- 
oras — six nations— but the Tuscaroras 
wandered away to the south and set- 
tled on the Cantano or Neuse river in 
North Carolina, thus reducing the 
number to five nations. Each of the 
tribes thus originated was independent 
of the others and they warred witn 
each other as well as with the sur- 
rounding tribes. Tharonhyjagon still 
remained with the tribes; gave them 
seeds of various kinds, with the pro- 
per knowledge for planting them; 
taught them how to kill and roast 
game; made the forests free to all the 
tribes to hunt, and removed obstruc- 
tions from the streams. After this he 
laid aside his divine character and re- 
solved to live with the Onondagas that 
he might exemplify the maxims he 
taught. For this purpose he selected a 
handsome spot of ground on the south- 
ern banks of the lake called Teonto, 
lieing the sheet of water now known 
as Cross lake. Here he built a cabin 
and took a wife of the Onondagas, by 
whom he had an only daughter, whom 
he tenderly loved and most kindly and 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



349 



carefully treated and instructed. The 
excellence of his character and his 
great sagacity and good counsels led 
the people to view him with venera- 
tion and they gave him the name of 
Hi-a-wat-ha, signifying a very wise 
man. From all quarters people came 
to him for advice and, in this manner, 
all power came naturally in his hands, 
and he was regarded as the first chief 
in all the land. Under his teachings 
the Onondagas became the first among 
all the original clans. They were the 
wisest counselors, the best hunters, 
and the bravest warriors. Hence the 
Onondagas were early noted among all 
the tribes for their pre-eminence. 

The balance of the story of Hiawatha 
is from an account by Abraham Le* 
Fort, an Onondaga chief and a gradu- 
ate of Geneva college. He calls Lake 
Teonto, or Cross lake, Lake Tioto. 
Many Indian names have several var- 
iations of pronounciation and spelling. 

On the banks of Tioto, or Cross lake, 
resided an eminent man who bore the 
name of Hiawatha, or the Wise Man. 

This name was given him, as its 
meaning indicates, on account of his 
great wisdom in council and power in 
war. Hiawatha was of high and mys- 
terious origin. He had a canoe which 
would move without paddles, obedient 
to his will, and which he kept with 
great care and never used except when 
he attended the general council of the 
tribes. It was from Hiawatha the peo- 
ple learned to raise corn and beans; 
through his instructions they were en- 
abled to remove obstructions from the 
water courses and clear their fishing 
grounds; and by him they were helped 
to get the mastery over the great mon- 
sters which overran the country. The 
people listened to him with ever in- 
creasing delight; and he gave them 
wise laws and maxims from the Great 
Spirit, for he had been second to him 
only in power previous to his taking 
up his dwelling with mankind. 

Having selected the Onondagas for 
his tribe, years passed away in pros- 
perity; the Onondagas assumed an 
elevated rank for their wisdom and 
learning, among the other tribes, and 
there was not one of these which did 
not yield its assent to their superior 
privilege of lighting the council-fire. 

But in the midst of the high tide of 
their prosperity, suddenly there arose 
a great alarm at the invasion of a fer- 
ocious band of warriors from the North 
of the Great Lakes; and as these bands 
advanced, an indiscriminate slaughter 
was made of men, women and children. 
Destruction fell upon all alike. 

The public alarm was great; and 
Hiawatha advised them not to waste 
their efforts in a desultory manner, but 



to call a council of all the tribes that 
could be gathered together, from the 
East to the West; and, at the same 
time, he appointed a meeting to take 
place on an eminence on the banks of 
the Onondaga lake. There, according- 
ly, the chief men assembled, while the 
occasion brought together a vast mul- 
titude of men, women and children, 
who were in expectation of some mar- 
vellous deliverance. 

Three days elapsed and Hiawatha 
did not appear. The multitude began 
to fear that he was not coming, and 
messengers were despatched for him 
to Tioto, who found him depressed 
with a presentment that evil would 
follow his attendance. These fears 
were overruled by the eager persua- 
sions of the messengers; and Hia- 
watha, taking his daughter with him, 
put his wonderful canoe in its ele- 
ment and set out for the council. The 
grand assemblage that was to avert 
the threatened danger appeared quick- 
ly in sight, as he moved rapidly along 
in his inagic canoe; and when the peo- 
ple saw him, they sent up loud shouts 
of welcome until the venerated man 
landed. A steep ascent led up the 
banks of the lake to the place occu- 
pied by the council; and, as he walked 
up, a loud whirring sound was heard 
above, as if caused by some rushing 
current of air. Instantly, the eyes of 
all were directed upward to the sky, 
where was seen a dark spot, something 
like a small cloud, descending rapidly, 
and as it approached, enlarging in its 
size and increasing in velocity. Ter- 
ror and alarm filled the minds of the 
multitude and they scattered in con- 
fusion. But as soon as he had gained 
the eminence, Hiawatha stood still, 
causing his daughter to do the same — 
deeming it cowardly to fly, and impos- 
sible, if it was attempted, to divert the 
designs of the Great Spirit. The de- 
scending object now assumed a more 
definite aspect; and, as it came nearer, 
revealed the shape of a gigantic white 
bird, with wide-extended and pointed 
wings. This bird came down with 
ever increasing velocity, until, with a 
mighty swoop, it dropped upon the girl, 
crushing her at once to the earth. 

The fixed face of Hiawatha alone in- 
dicated his consciousness of his daugh- 
ter's death; while in silence he signall- 
ed to the warriors, who had stood 
watching the event in speechless con- 
sternation. One after the other stepped 
up to the prostrate bird, which was 
killed by its violent fall, and selecting 
a feather from its snow-white plum- 
age, decorated himself therewith. 

But now a new affliction fell upon 
Hiawatha; for, on removing the car- 
cass of the bird, not a trace could be 
discovered of his daughter. Her body 
had vanished from the earth. Shades 



350 



APPENDIX 



of anguish contracted the dark face of 
Hiawatha. He stood apart in voice- 
less grief. No word was spoken. His 
people waited in silence, until at length 
arousing himself, he turned to them 
and walked in calm dignity to the head 
of the council. 

The first day he listened with atten- 
tive gravity to the plans of the differ- 
ent speakers; on the next day he arose 
and said: "My friends and brothers; 
you are members of many tribes, and 
have come from a great distance. We 
have come to promote the common in- 
terest, and our mutual safety. How 
shall it be accomplished? To oppose 
these Northern hordes in tribes singly, 
while we are at variance often with 
each other, is impossible. By uniting 
in a common band of brotherhood we 
may hope to succeed. Let this be done, 
and we shall drive the enemy from our 
land. Listen to me by tribes. You, the 
Mohawks, who are sitting under the 
shadow of the great tree, whose 
branches spread wide around, and 
whose roots sink deep into the earth, 
shall be the first nation, because you 
are warlike and mighty. You, the 
Oneidas, who recline your bodies 
against the everlasting stone that can- 
not be moved, shall be the second na- 
tion, because you always give wise 
counsel. You, the Onondagas, who 
have your habitation at the foot of the 
great hills, and are overshadowed by 
their crags, shall be the third nation, 
because you are greatly gifted in 
speech. You, the Senecas, whose 
dwelling is in the dark forest, and 
whose home is all over the land, shall 
be the fourth nation, because of your 
superior cunning in hunting. And you, 
the Cayugas, the people who live in 
the open country and possess much 
wisdom, shall Ije the fifth nation, be- 
cause you understand better the art of 
raising corn and beans, and making 
lodges. Unite, ye five nations, and 
have one common interest, and no foe 
shall disturb and subdue you. You, 
the people who are the feeble bushes, 
and you who are a fishing people, may 
place yourself under our protection, 
and we will defend you. And you of 
the South and West may do the same, 
and we will protect you. We earnestly 
desire the alliance and friendship of 
you all. Brothers, if we unite in this 
great bond, the Great Spirit will smile 
upon us, and we shall be free, pros- 
perous and happy; but if we remain as 
we are, we shall be subject to his 
frown. We shall be enslaved ruined, 
perhaps annihilated. We may perish 
under the war-storm, and our names 
be no longer remembered by good men, 
nor be repeated in the dance and song. 
Brothers, those are the words of Hia- 
watha. I have spoken. I am done." 

The next day his plan of unison was 
considered and adopted by the council, 



after which Hiawatha again addressed 
the people with wise words of counsel, 
and at the close of this speech bade 
them farewell; for he conceived that 
his mission to the Iroquois was ac- 
complished, and he might announce his 
withdrawal to the skies. He then went 
down to the shore, and assumed his 
seat in his mystical canoe. Sweet 
music was heard in the air as he seat- 
ed himself; and while the wondering 
multitude stood gazing at their beloved 
chief, he was silently wafted from 
sight, and they saw him no more. He 
passed to the Isle of the Blessed, in- 
habited by Owayneo [the Great Spirit] 
and his manitos. 

And they said, "Farewell forever!" 
Said, "Farewell, O Hiawatha!" 
And the forests, dark and lonely. 
Moved through all their depths of 

darkness. 
Sighed, "Farewell. O Hiawatha!" 
And the waves upon the margin, 
Rising, rippling on the pebbles, 
Sobbed, "P^arewell, O Hiawatha!" 
And the heron, the shuh-shu-gah. 
From her haunts among the fen-lands. 
Screamed, "Farewell, O Hiawatha!" 

Thus departed Hiawatha, 
Hiawatha the Beloved, 
In the glory of the sunset. 
In the purple mists of evening, 
To the regions of the home-wind, 
Of the northwest wind, Keewaydin, 
To the Islands of the Blessed, 
To the kingdom of Ponemah, 
To the land of the Hereafter. 
["The Song of Hiawatha," By H. W. 

Longfellow.] 



CHAPTER n. 
The Six Mohawk Valley Counties and 
the Mohawk Valley Considered as a 
Historical and Geographical Unit — 
Dutch Settlement and Influence in 
the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys — 
Importance of the Hudson Valley, 
Geographical, Commercial, industrial, 
Agricultural, Social. 
It is more than i)robable that the 
historian of the future will no longer 
seat himself on Boston Common, for 
contemplation and meditation on the 
history of the United States, but will 
perch himself on some eminence over- 
looking the Hudson or the Mohawk, 
through which the march of empire has 
taken its course westward. The Hud- 
son and Mohawk valleys form a na- 
tional road of commerce and a great 
highway of American history; they 
form a main artery of American life, 
industry and transportation — -perhaps 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



351 



the main artery. So the first Euro- 
peans who settled along these streams 
take on an additional importance — 
and this people was the Holland Dutch. 

The Mohawk valley may be separated 
for convenience into four general di- 
visions^first, the upper valley, em- 
bracing Oneida county; second, the 
middle valley, including Herkimer, 
Montgomery and Fulton counties; 
third, the Schoharie valley; fourth, the 
lower valley embracing Schenectady 
and the parts of Saratoga and Albany 
counties, abutting on the Mohawk. 

The six Mohawk valley counties are 
for statistical convenience taken to 
represent the Mohawk valley, but they 
do not include about fifteen miles of its 
lower course. Also parts of the six 
Mohawk valley counties are not in the 
Mohawk valley as previously shown. 
Also some ten other counties contain 
portions of the Mohawk watershed, 
those areas of the six counties not in 
the valley and those areas of the 
watershed located in other counties 
{ bout balancing each other. At times 
both the six Mohawk valley counties 
and the lower Mohawk valley (includ- 
ing the city of Cohoes and parts of 
Saratoga and Albany counties) are in- 
cluded in statistical totals in this work 
under the title of the six Mohawk val- 
ley counties and the Mohawk valley. 
By far the greater part of the popula- 
tion of the six Mohawk valley counties 
and the Mohawk valley, is located close 
to the Mohawk river itself, 80 per cent 
probably living within 5 miles of the 
river; so it is a very defined area of 
population we are considering in Mo- 
hawk valley subjects and history. 

The following relates to the six Mo- 
hawk valley counties and their consid- 
eration as a historical whole, to the 
first settlement of the Mohawk valley 
by the Dutch at Schenectady and to 
the Dutch and their influence, in the 
Hudson valley, including the Mohawk, 
and the United States at large. 

The editor of this work believes the 
history of counties will eventually be 
considered according to their natural 
geographical divisions rather than by 
states. The growth of the United 
States as a country can be viewed as 



that of the Atlantic seaboard and its 
valleys (including the Hudson and the 
Mohawk), that of the Great Lakes 
region, that of the Mississippi valley, 
that of the plains region, the southwest 
and the Pacific slope. Just so we must 
study the development of the Mohawk 
valley as a whole. The histories of the 
six Mohawk valley counties can form 
supplementary readings to this general 
study. 

The history and present day con- 
"sideration of the Mohawk valley must 
embrace that of the six Mohawk valley 
counties of Oneida, Herkimer, Mont- 
gomery, Fulton, Schoharie and Schen- 
ectady. This is because the Mohawk 
valley is a real geographical division 
and the counties are purely imaginary 
demarcations of its area. Schenectady 
should have as much, if not more, at- 
tention paid its history as the other 
counties. Because it was not included 
in the old Tryon county it is fre- 
quently left out of Mohawk valley his- 
torical studies, and as a result errors 
and a disjointed idea of valley history 
ensue. As a consequence we have seen 
a historical paper which claimed the 
Palatines as the first settlers of the 
Mohawk valley. The Dutch at Sche- 
nectady were the first settlers along 
the Mohawk and they had been here 
present for fifty years or more before 
the Palatine Germans arrived. One 
hundred years before Stone Arabia (in 
1713) was settled by Palatines two 
Dutch traders had passed the Palatine 
hills on their way to the Otsego coun- 
try (in 1614). 

The Holland Dutch settlers have not 
been "written up" like the New Eng- 
land or Virginia settlers. They prob- 
ably numbered over half or two-thirds 
of the 300,000 people in New York and 
New Jersey in 1775 and their influence 
in colonial and national life was con- 
siderable and permanent. Holland in 
the seventeenth century was the then 
"United States" of Europe. Its people 
are closely akin to the English in blood 
and language and their civilization and 
commerce were superior to that of 
European nations, including Britain. 
Civil and religious liberty and intel- 
lectual tolerance prevailed in Holland 



352 



APPENDIX 



and attracted the persecute 1 from 
many lands — including Palatines and 
Pilgrims. New York, in its early years, 
similarly received those fleeing from 
the fanatical religious persecutions of 
New England. Holland of the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries possessed 
great political and military leaders, 
statesmen, teachers, philosophers, ar- 
tists and writers. It was practically 
the birthplace of modern art and, al- 
though it is little known, north Euro- 
pean art here developed, years before' 
that of Italy. Holland of those days 
was the home of large industries, a 
great merchant marine, a wonderful 
world commerce and great merchants. 

The Dutch settlers of New York and 
New Jersey strongly influenced the life 
of our nation, because they were 
largely located in the Hudson valley 
(of which the Mohawk forms a part) 
and came in touch with the moving 
population of the colonies and the later 
United States. Our American Christ- 
mas observance and our American po- 
litical, religious and intellectual toler- 
ance are descended from those de- 
scendants of the Batavii whom Caesar 
could scarce conquer. People who 
aie uninformed on the subject, must 
remember that this hardy race was 
called "Low Dutch," simply because of 
the geographical position of Holland. 
Caesar found their ancestors dwelling 
in the marshes of the lowlands border- 
ing the North Sea. Little Holland's 
fight against mighty Spain was one of 
the most heroic struggles in history 
and dwarfs our own Revolutionary 
war. Dutch success ensured political 
and religious liberty and modern Eu- 
ropean and American civilization. 

At the time of the Revolution the 
Dutch element was preponderant in 
the Hudson valley and in the eastern 
Mohawk valley about Schenectady and 
it extended to all parts of the settled 
Mohawk valley. Among men of this 
race we find Gansevoort, Van Schaick, 
Van Benschoten, Visscher, Schuyler 
and other Revolutionary first-rate 
fighters, Van Buren, the president, Los- 
sing, the great historian of New York 
state, Vanderlyn, the painter, and 
many other political and intellectual 



leaders of early New York. Even the 

best pre-Revolutionary pugilist, in the 

Mohawk valley, was Van Loan, the 
mighty Schoharie Dutchman. 

Later came into the Hudson valley 
other races which finally made the 
Dutch and Palatine elements a minor- 
ity. Today they form a thoroughly 
American element so amalgamated as 
to no longer be a definite racial item. 
Just as the Indians infiuenced our first 
settlers, so our first settlers have af- 
fected the later comers. In the Revo- 
lution it fell largely to the New York 
Dutch militiaman to guard the Hudson 
valley (key to the colonies) from the 
British. This he helped to do suc- 
cessfully. While not exaggerating its 
great importance, let us give due credit 
to the Dutch and their influence on 
America and American history. For it 
is as great, in its way, as that of any 
other and as said before, it has not 
been "written up." 

The reader is referred to Mrs. 
Grant's "Memoirs of An American 
Lady" for the best picture of Dutch 
colonial life (about Albany) extant. 

The Dutch immigration was contin- 
uous into New York state from the 
earliest permanent settlements, about 
1624, up until the Revolutionary war. 
It did not cease with the conquest of 
New Netherland by the English in 1664. 

The original territory occupied by 
the Dutch in New York and New Jer- 
sey is shown geographically by the 
names they gave their towns, the 
streams and other natural features. 
Where they did not use the Indian 
names, the streams became kills 
(Dutch for creek or river). These 
Dutch names are scattered all through 
the Hudson arid Mohawk valleys and 
northern New Jersey — the territory of 
Dutch colonization. 

A very considerable element of 
United States population today (1914) 
is of Dutch or partial Dutch extraction. 
It may be safely estimated that five 
million Americans possess some Dutch 
blood in their veins. In 1914 there 
were in the United States about 370,000 
people (N. Y. World Almanac figures) 
of Dutch-Flemish-Frisian birth or par- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



353 



entage and speaking these allied lan- 
guages. 

The first settlements by the Dutch 
of the Hudson valley, New York har- 
bor and Manhattan island take on 
great importance, because the Hudson 
valley, in its relation to man, is one of 
the great river valleys of the world; 
because New York harbor is the 
world's greatest sea and inland (on the 
Hudson) water port and New York 
city by 1920 will, doubtless, be the 
world's greatest city. New York, in 
1915, is estimated by the U. S. Census 
Bureau to be but little smaller than 
London and in another half decade the 
American metropolis will surpass the 
British world center in population. 

The Hudson valley is the most im- 
portant section, commercially and so- 
cially, of the leading state of the 
United States. The Hudson valley is 
the vital spot in American history, in 
it has been thoroughly exemplified the 
• development of our country in manu- 
factures, agriculture, political, indus- 
trial, commercial, transportation, social, 
urban and rural life. In it have been 
developed many of our great modern 
inventions. On its shores were built 
the first successful steamboat and the 
locomotive which drew America's first 
passenger train, within its borders 
(from Albany to Schenectady). Its 
early water route, from the Hudson to 
the Great Lakes by way of the Mo- 
hawk valley, was utilized in the Erie 
canal and the later greater Barge 
canal, joining the world's oceans to the 
thousands of miles of America's great 
and wonderful inland water system of 
lakes and river. Similarly the early 
Indian trails and later turnpikes be- 
came still later great continental rail- 
road systems. Over the waters of the 
Hudson took place the first American 
long distance air flight, from Albany to 
New York, by Curtiss in 1910, but 
seven years after the Wright brothers 
made their first glide with a heavier 
than air machine at Kitty Hawk, N. C, 
in 1903. 

In the Civil war the Hudson valley 
furnished thousands of men to the 
Union armies, while over the Hudson- 
Mohawk railroads, rivers and canals 



vast quantities of army supplies went 
to the front. On its river and rail- 
roads hundreds of thousands of Union 
soldiers were transported and within 
its limits were made great amounts of 
arms for the federal armies. 

The Hudson valley is today America's 
greatest land and water traffic and 
transportation route. A waterway like 
the Panama canal is of secondary im- 
portance compared with it. It is virtu- 
ally a sea inlet for one hundred seventy 
miles, from New York to Troy, as well 
as the channel of a great fresh water 
river. As a landscape feature the Hud- 
son valley and its hills, mountains, 
fields, rivers, lakes and forests, is 
without a peer. 

Politically the Hudson valley has 
played a great part and it has given 
two presidents to the United States — 
Van Buren and Roosevelt, both de- 
scendants of its first Dutch settlers. In 
literature, art and music, the Hudson 
valley has long been regarded as the 
center for the western hemisphere. Its 
great city is a wonderful study in itself 
much as we may disapprove of it as a 
human abiding place. It is easy to 
understand, from the foregoing how 
vital the history of the Hudson valley 
is to the eight million people (1915) 
gathered about that estuary of the 
Hudson river — New York bay; and this 
history includes, of course, that of that 
part of the Hudson valley known as 
the Mohawk valley — its whole and all 
its parts. 

A great amount of legendary and 
patriotic interest attaches to the Hud- 
son valley (of which the Mohawk forms 
a part). With it is concerned the 
'stories of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van 
Winkle, which while purely fictitious 
and products of Irving's genius reflect 
early Dutch eighteenth century Hud- 
son river life. Song and story embody 
the spirit of the Hudson and the Mo- 
hawk. At Rensselaer (old Greenbush), 
opposite Albany, Yankee Doodle was 
born to the accompaniment of Ameri- 
can fifes and drums and the lusty 
voices of the farmer soldiers. At Fort 
Stanwix, on August 6, 1777, the stars 
and stripes were first flown in battle 
and at Saratoga in 1777, the Americans 



354 



APPENDIX 



won the decisive action of the Revolu- 
tion. At Poughkeepsie in 1786, the 
New York state assembly ratified the 
United States constitution, making the 
ninth state to take such action and 
thereby putting it in force. 

In 1754 at All)any was held a con- 
vention of colonial delegates, pre- 
viously mentioned in this work, which 
is said to have been the initial step in 
the formation of the United States. 
The Mohawk river section of the Hud- 
son valley was the home of two tribes 
of the Iroquois republic — the Mohawks 
and the Oneidas. It is said the exam- 
ple of the successful Iroquois league 
of the Six Nations had a powerful in- 
fluence in the formation of our own 
greater present-day American repub'lic. 

In the realm of sport, the Hudson 
valley boasts the birthplace of the in- 
ventor" of baseball — Ballston Springs, 
where Gen. Doubleday was born, who 
invented the great national pastime at 
Cooperstown. 

These mentioned are but a few of 
the items of interest to all the nation, 
which have had their origin in the 
Hudson valley. Much of the foregoing 
life, trade and traffic had its birth in 
the Hudson valley in the early days 
when the Dutch influence was predom- 
inant. It must be remembered that 
other races were also mingled together 
in New York province, but the Dutch 
were predominant in numbers and in- 
fluence prior to the Revolution. In re- 
gard to this subject see Lossing's "Em- 
pire State," also Series I., Chapter VII. 
of this work. Before (in the early nine- 
teenth century) the railroads and Hud- 
son river steamboats made urban in- 
tercommunication rapid and cheap Al- 
bany held the position, for two cen- 
turies, of the metropolis of the upper 
Hudson and the Mohawk valleys. 
Schenectady was a subsidiary center 
for the Mohawk valley — market town, 
turnpike and river traffic terminal. 
Both were typical Dutch towns up to 
the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 

It is the peculiar geographical posi- 
tion of the Hudson and its tributary, 
the Mohawk, which contributed to 
make New York the great city it is 



today (1914), offering as it does a 
"water level route" to the west — being 
the only low break through the Appa- 
lachian range of mountains. The com- 
pletion of the Erie canal in 1825 made 
New York city the foremost metropolis 
of the continent and this was greatly 
added to by the later railroads tra- 
versing the state from east to west. 
The great importance and population 
of the Hudson valley is bound to in- 
crease tremendously with the coming 
years. 

Of the great traffic and travel route 
and waterway, which stretches 425 
miles across our state from New York 
to Buffalo, 250 miles (from New York 
to Rome) lies in the Hudson valley. 
This is one-twelfth of the distance 
across the continent. 

Its manufactures, trade, traffic, land 
and water commerce and the ten mil- 
lions (1915) which are located on its 
shores and that of its estuary — New 
York bay — make the Hudson valley the 
most important river valley in the 
world. Therefore its first settlement 
by the Dutch and their predominance 
therein for over a century and a half 
thereafter, become subjects of much 
importance. It must be thoroughly 
borne in mind that the Mohawk valley 
is part of the greater Hudson valley, 
in considering the history of the Hud- 
son valley and its first se'^tlement by 
the Holland Dutch. 

The estimated population of New 
York city in 1914 was 5,500,000. In ad- 
dition to this there were estimated to 
be over 1,500,000 people on the shores 
of the lower Hudson adjoining New 
York and on the borders of New York 
bay and its adjoining waters, all with- 
in a twenty-mile radius of New York 
city hall. The principal of these places 
were Newark, Jersey City, Yonkers, 
Elizalseth and Hoboken. This gives a 
combined population of 7,000,000 lo- 
cated at the mouth of the Hudson. 
The twenty-two Hudson valley coun- 
ties of Essex, Warren, Hamilton, 
Washington, Saratoga, Oneida, Herki- 
mer, Montgomery, Fulton, Schoharie, 
Schenectady, Albany, Rensselaer, 
Greene, Columbia, Ulster, Dutchess, 
Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Westches- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



355 



ter, Bronx had a combined population 
in 1910 of 1,633,000 in round numbers. 
Adding to this the 1910 population of 
New York city, 4,767,000 and the four 
New Jersey counties of Bergen, Hud- 
son, Eessex and Union and parts of 
Middlesex and Monmouth (all . of 
which abut on New York bay) with a 
1910 population of about 1,400,000 gives 
a 1910 population of the Hudson val- 
ley and the cities at its mouth of 
7,800,000, compared with a 1910 popu- 
lation for the United States of 92,000,- 
000. By 1915 this population will be 
probably 9,000,000, as compared with 
an estimated U. S. population of over 
100,000,000. By 1920 the Hudson val- 
ley population will probably be 
11,000,000 out of a U. S. popu- 
lation of 110,000,000. By 1950 the 
Hudson valley population may be 
20,000,000 and that of the United States 
175,000,000. The population of the 
twenty-two Hudson valley counties 
and New York city in 1910 was 6,400,- 
000 as compared with 9,113,000 for New 
York state. The twenty-two Hudson 
valley counties (above New York city) 
and the five New York city counties 
(Bronx, New York, Richmond, Kings 
and Queens) comprised twenty-seven 
of the sixty-two counties of New York 
state. From the foregoing it can 
readily be seen what an important 
section of the United States and of 
North America the Hudson valley 
forms, containing as it does about one- 
eleventh of the population of our coun- 
try and about one-twelfth of that of 
North America (excluding Mexico), 
north of the Rio Grande. Not all of 
the territory of the twenty-two Hud- 
son valley counties lie in the Hudson 
river watershed but the greater part 
of their territory does and all but a 
small fraction of their population is 
gathered along the Hudson and its 
tributaries and within its watershed. 

An interesting center of population in 
the Hudson valley is that which lies at 
the junction of the Hudson and its 
principal tributary, the Mohawk. The 
Albany-Troy section had a population 
in 1910 of 230,000 in round numbers. 
Including Schenectady and its suburb 
Scotia this group of Hudson-Mohawk 



cities in 1910 had a population of 306,- 
000. This has since increased and 
probably will increase rapidy in the 
future, as this family of cities lies at 
the end of Hudson tide water naviga- 
tion and at the beginning of Mohawk 
river-Barge canal navigation and is 
also a great railroad, industrial and 
agricultural center. The reader's at- 
tention is directed to a study of the 
map of New York state river valleys 
and to the remarkable way in which 
the Hudson and Oswego river valleys 
carry water navigation three-quartej's 
of the way over the great New York to 
Buffalo trade route. A people located 
along this great trade route are for- 
tunate in being daily in touch with its 
industrial, commercial, agricultural, 
political, social and historical features. 



1661 — Dutch Settlement of Schenectady 

"Schenectady, Ancient and Modern;" 
Joel Henry Monroe, 1914: 

Regarding the settlement of Schen- 
ectady in 1661, the above work says: 

Arent Van Curler, a native of Hol- 
land, superintended for many years 
this great [Rensselaer] estate. He 
was a man of unusual force and abil- 
ity, an influential figure in the affairs 
of the colony, and also among both the 
Indians and the French. Van Curler 
was something of a diplomatist too, 
honest in public matters, was fearless 
and withal progressive. He was highly 
esteemed by the Iroqouis and often 
acted as ambassador in disputes and 
in humane matters arising between 
them and the French. The latter also 
regarded him in the highest favor. 

Van Curler was familiar with the 
surrounding country. He had had oc- 
casion to make many trips up and 
down the valley during the twenty 
years past and had taken special note 
of the charming country lying west of 
Beverwyck [Albany]. ****** 

The contour of the land and the 
geographical location combined to ren- 
der the site chosen a most eligible 
one, and, by reason of its situation on 
the Mohawk river, it was destined to 
be at the foot of navigation. The 
broad river, skirting the proposed town 
on the west, formed a spacious bay or 
Binne Kill, which would afford an 
ample harbor. The land, to be sure, 
was still in possession of the Mo- 
hawks; it had l)een their hunting 
ground and corn ground for many 
centuries. In fact the site of Schenec- 
tady, according to tradition, was the 
seat of an Indian capitol at some re- 
mote period. * * * 



356 



APPENDIX 



The names of the petitioners, ask- 
ing to settle at Schenectady, in 1661, 
were Van Curler, Brouwer, Glen, Van 
Velsen, Veeder, Van Woggleum, 
Bancker, Teller, DeWinter, Borsboom, 
Van Olinda, Wemp, Van Slyck. 

The town of Schenectady is referred 
to, in the original Indian deed to the 
Dutch settlers as Schonowa. The 
name of the Indian village there was 
Connochariguharie, which pronounced 
rapidly, sounds suspiciously like Can- 
ajoharie. Possibly the whole region of 
the Mohawk valely north may have 
been so-called by the Mohawks, as so 
many of their localities and towns had 
a similarly sounding name. 

The name Schenectady is supposed 
to be (by some) Dutch and not Mo- 
hawk in its derivation. Yates's (1902) 
"Schenectady County" says: "The 
name the county now bears ia said to 
have a beautiful origin: — Schoon 
(beautiful) Acten (valuable) Deel (por- 
tion of land)." Is this right or is it a 
"guess?" Can "Schenectady" be a 
final settling down of the various at- 
tempts of various nationalities to pro- 
nounce Canajoharie, which may have 
been the name the Mohawks gave their 
whole country? In lieu of a better 
translation, however, it is well to ac- 
cept that of Yates. 



The Mohawks a Bar to Early White 
Settlement Along the Mohawk. 
The average reader of history, in 
scanning the accounts of the settle- 
ment of the British colonies, generally 
wonders why the rich agricultural 
section of the Mohawk valley was not 
settled earlier in the history of our 
country. That it was not was entirely 
due to the fact that the early authori- 
ties, both Dutch and English, secured 
the alliance of the powerful Iroquois 
nation and wished them to continue as 
a defence against the encroaching 
French power on the St. Lawrence. To 
have settled in their country would 
have broken up this alliance and made 
the Iroquois the enemies of the white 
men then resident in the Hudson val- 
ley. The Mohawks and Iroquois 
greatly admired Van Curler and 
therefore allowed him to settle at 



Schenectady in 1661. Doubtless they 
also figured that this white chief would 
help them in their never-ending bat- 
tle with the French and the Canadian 
Indians if he were located among 
them. So great was their admiration 
for Van Curler that, for years after 
his death, they gave the New York 
governor the title of "Corlaer." The 
settlement of Schenectady was the en- 
tering wedge and soon other white 
settlements were made farther up the 
Mohawk valley among the Mohawks, 
then enfeebled and depleted by alcohol 
and the vices introduced among them 
by the white men. Fort Stanwix (or 
Schuyler) remained the western boun- 
dary of the New York settlements un- 
til after the Revolution, as the tribes 
of the other Six Nations, aside from 
the Mohawks, remained an insur- 
mountable barrier to any further en- 
croachment. After the council of 1788 
at Fort Schuyler, the Indian title to 
lands west of that point was extin- 
guished and immigration in great vol- 
ume at once set in. 



1709— Trip of Four Mohawk Chiefs to 
England. 
In 1709 four chiefs of the Mohawk 
nation accompanied Col. Peter Schuy- 
ler of Albany to England. The ex- 
penses of the trip were paid by the 
British nation and the journey was 
made with the idea of allying the Iro- 
quois more closely with the English 
cause, particularly as the French were 
continually making overtures of 
friendship to the Five Nations. The 
Mohawk chiefs represented the Iro- 
quois confederacy and they would only 
go on the condition that their friend 
Schuyler, accompany them. For, they 
trusted him implicitly, saying "he 
never told a lie and always thought 
before he spoke." King Hendrick was 
one who made the journey and in Eng- 
land he had his portrait painted in a 
court suit presented him by Queen 
Anne, who received these savage chief- 
tains several times. To Schuyler she 
offered knighthood, but he, true demo- 
crat that he was, courteously declined 
the honor. The trip was undertaken 
with the idea of showing the Iroquois 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



357 



people the real military and commer- 
cial greatness of England, and, under 
Schuyler's skilful direction, it proved 
a great success. On the return of the 
Mohawk chieftains to Albany in 1710, 
a council was there held at which the 
Iroquois made a strong league of 
friendship with the English New York 
provincial authorities, a course due to 
the forceful representations of the re- 
turned travelers. One of the Mohawks 
died on the voyage. Col. Peter Schuy- 
ler was one of the leading men of his 
time in the upper Hudson and Mohawk 
valleys, of which Albany was the 
center. 



1760 — Mrs. Grant's Mohawk River Trip 
Mrs. Anne Grant's "Memoirs of An 
American Lady (Margaret Schuyler)" 
is mentioned several times in this 
work. Mrs. Grant was Anne McVicar, 
the daughter of a Scotch officer in the 
English army, and lived her childhood 
in Albany and vicinity. In 1758 she 
with her mother came from Scotland 
and located at Claverack-on-the-Hud- 
son, where Capt. McVicar was sta- 
tioned. In 1760 she accompanied 
her parents to Ft. Oswego and on her 
return from there located in Albany 
until 1768, when they all returned to 
Scotland. Mrs. Grant describes Al- 
bany and vicinity, of that time, in a 
most graphic manner. She is most 
enthusiastic in her praise of the de- 
scendants of the Hollanders who made 
Albany a Dutch city until the nine- 
teenth century. She also speaks very 
highly of the Palatine German element 
of the population tributary to Albany, 
and of the Mohawk nation as well, for 
whose savage virtues she had a great 
appreciation. Her trip from Claver- 
ack to Oswego, by boat on the Mo- 
hawk to Wood creek, Oneida lake and 
the Oswego river, is described most 
entertainingly. She, with her parents, 
visited Sir William Johnson at his 
first two Mohawk river homes (John- 
son Hall at Johnstown not being then 
built) ; also King Hendrick at Fort 
CanajohariCf or Fort Hendrick (now 
Indian Castle). This was the son of 
the famous King Hendrick, who fell in 
battle under Sir William Johnson, at 



Lake George in 1755. Of her Mohawk 
river trip in 1760 she says, in part: 
"The first day we came to Schenec- 
tady, a little town, situated in a rich 
and beautiful spot, and partly sup- 
ported by the Indian trade. The next 
day we embarked, proceeded up the 
river with six batteaux, and came, 
early in the evening, to one of the most 
charming scenes imaginable, where 
Fort Hendrick was built; so called in 
compliment to the principal sachem 
or King of the Mohawks. He resided, 
at the time, in a house which the pub- 
lic workmen, who had lately built this 
fort, had been ordered to erect for him 
in the vicinity. We did not fail to 
wait upon his majesty; who, not choos- 
ing to depart too much from the cus- 
toms of his ancestors, had not per- 
mitted divisions of apartments or mod- 
ern furniture to profane his new 
dwelling. It had the appearance of a 
good barn and was divided across by 
a mat hung in the middle. King 
Hendrick, who had indeed a very 
princely figure and a countenance that 
would not have dishonored royalty, 
was sitting on the floor beside a large 
heap of wheat, surrounded by baskets 
Qf dried berries of different kinds. Be- 
side him his son, a very pretty boy, 
somewhat older than myself, was car- 
essing a foal, which was unceremon- 
iously introduced into the royal resi- 
dence. A laced hat, a fine saddle and 
pistols, gifts of his good brother, the 
Great King, were hung round on the 
cross beams. He was splendidly ar- 
rayed in a coat of pale blue, trimmed 
with silver; all the rest of his dress 
was of the fashion of his own nation, 
and highly embellished with beads and 
other ornaments. * * * Add to all 
this, that the monarch smiled, clapped 
my head and ordered me a little bas- 
ket, very pretty, and filled, by the of- 
ficious kindness of his son, with dried 
berries. Never did princely gifts, or 
the smile of royalty produce more ar- 
dent admiration and profound grati- 
tude." Mrs. Grant speaks of "sitting 
from morning to night, musing in the 
))oat * * * having my imagination 
continually amused with the variety 
of noble, wild scenes, which the beau- 



358 



APPENDIX 



tiful banks of the Mohawk afforded." 

The party making the trip consisted 
of a number of British soldiers, under 
Captain McVicar, with some of their 
wives. They all camped for the night 
several times on this journey to Fort 
Oswego and the howling of the wolves 
was so terrific that it made several of 
the women hysterical. A considerable 
portion of the work is given to Fort 
Oswego, which was then a frontier 
post, completely isolated in the great 
forest; its only connection with civili- 
zation being by the waterway to Al- 
bany mentioned. Fort Oswego, as 
shown in this work, played a great 
part in Mohawk valley Revolutionary 
history. 

Mrs. Grant mentions the knowledge 
of nature possessed by the early colo- 
nists of New York province. This na- 
ture lore was early acquired and even 
children early learned its rudiments. 
Mrs. Grant speaks of the young Al- 
banian of the middle eighteenth cen- 
tury, in this regard as follows: 

"It is inconceivable how well these 
young travelers, taught by their In- 
dian friends and the experimental 
knowledge of their fathers, understood 
every soil and its productions. A boy 
of twelve would astonish you with 
his accurate knowledge of plants, their 
properties, and their relation to the 
soil and to each other. Said he: 'Here 
is a wood of red oak; when it is 
grubbed up this will be loam and sand, 
and make good Indian corn ground. 
This chestnut wood abounds with 
strawberries, and is the very best soil 
for wheat. The poplar wood yonder is 
not worth clearing; the soil is always 
wet and cold. There is a hickory 
wood, where the soil is always rich 
and deep, but does not run out; such 
and such plants that dye blue or 
orange, grow under it.' " 

In the conflicting racial prejudices 
of Mrs. Grant's day, it is amusing to 
note her hostility to the New England 
people who were then beginning to 
come into New York state. This is 
particularly edifying considering the 
widely differing views of Elkanah 
Watson, a New Englander himself, 
who made the same trip by batteaux 
about thirty years later. 



1760 — Gen. Amherst's Expedition. 

In 1760 Gen. Amherst's British and 
Provincial American army passed up 
the Mohawk valley on its way to the 
investment of Montreal. Amherst's 
army caused the fall of Montreal and 
the final extinction of French power in 
Canada. The invading force left Sche- 
nectady, June 12, 1760, and marched 
up the valley, the supplies and muni- 
tions going up the river by batteaux. 
The army numbered 10,000 men — 6,000 
provincial troops and 4,000 regulars. 
With this expedition were Gen. Am- 
herst, Gen. Thomas Gage (later En- 
glish commandant of Boston), Col. 
Haldemand (afterward governor-gen- 
eral of Canada during the Revolution), 
Sir William Johnson (superintend- 
ent of Indian affairs). Gen. John 
Bradstreet and Lieut. -Col. Israel Put- 
nam, the famous American Revolu- 
tionary leader. Later Johnson joined 
the expedition with 1,300 Iroquois war- 
riors in his force. This was the largest 
Indian body ever attached to a British 
general's command. Amherst's army, 
when it invested Montreal, numbered 
17,000 men. That part of it which 
went up the Mohawk, in June, 1760, 
numbering ten thousand, was the larg- 
est army which ever entered this val- 
ley. Thus, from the Mohawk, went 
forth the American and British fight- 
ing force which ended French empire 
along the St. Lawrence. The foregoing 
is briefly mentioned in Series I., Chap- 
ter II. 

Regarding this we quote as follows 
from Wager's "History of Oneida 
County — Our County and Its People 
(1896)": 

In 1760 a final campaign was or- 
dered by the British, government to 
drive the French forces, which had 
converged around Montreal, from Can- 
ada. One English army was to pro- 
ceed from Quebec, another from Lake 
Champlain, and a third from Albany 
up the Mohawk, via the Oneida carry- 
ing place, to Oswego, thence over Lake 
Ontario and down the St. Lawrence. 
General Amherst commanded the last, 
consisting of 4,000 English regulars, 
6,000 Provincials and 600 Indians under 
Sir WilliaTii Johnson. * * * * jj^ 
SeiJtemlier of that year (1760) the En- 
glish forces converged at Montreal, 
where the French army had been 
driven, and all Canada passed into the 
hands of the English. 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



359 



This great movement of British 
forces througli tlie Mohawli valley, 
which resulted in the American-British 
conquest of North America from the 
French, is hardly even mentioned in 
the various histories and stories of the 
Mohawk valley. Its tale is worth a 
volume in itself. 



CHAPTER III. 
Sir William Johnson, an Appreciation. 

It is regrettable that the great 
achievements of Sir William Johnson 
should be befogged, in the eyes of the 
casual reader of history, by the re- 
vamping of ancient stories as to his 
marriage relations. Johnson was an 
empire builder like several other 
strong Americans of early days. Be- 
loved by his red and white neighbors, 
his fine manly figure looms large and 
clear in the light of history. William 
Johnson founded schools, churches, 
forts and a town, he built roads, aided 
his neighbors to improve their condi- 
tion and their farming methods. He 
introduced seeds, plants, animals, 
trees, etc., into the Mohawk valley. 
His battles for his country found a 
record in a bullet in his thigh. 

Sir William Johnson thoroughly or- 
ganized the Mohawk valley militia, and 
this discipline was useful to them dur- 
ing the Revolution. Although other 
tribes of the Six Nations wavered^ 
Johnson always kept their mightiest 
warriors, the Mohawks, in the English 
ranks. His power over the Iroquois, 
his well-trained militia and his mili- 
tary talents, together with his defense 
of the Mohawk and his victories at 
Lake George and Niagara largely con- 
tributed to the final British conquest 
of Canada. To Johnson, as much as 
to any man of his time (not excepting 
Washington) are we responsible for 
the English-speaking American race 
which dominates the great continent 
of North America from the Rio 
Grande to the North Pole. 

From his appointment, in 1750, to be 
one of the Governor's Council of the 
Province of New York, until his death 
at Johnstown in 1774 — a period of a 
quarter century — Johnson was prob- 



ably the most important and influen- 
tial figure in the state. His influence 
was particularly telling as it was ex- 
erted during one of the most important 
formative periods in the state's history. 
A "world man," modern in the most 
modern sense, for he was without 
prejudice or intolerance and a guiding, 
governing brother to Mohawk, Hol- 
lander, German or British resident of 
the valley in his time. With the power 
of a prince, he was simple, strong and 
manly, though he well knew how to 
entertain and impress the spectator 
with a show of military power or the 
signs of wealth. There is no stronger 
figure in our Colonial history than that 
of Johnson, and the rehashing of his 
alleged immoralities, etc. — veritable 
historical back-fence tattle — should be 
discountenanced. The praise of a con- 
temporary is praise indeed and we find 
a glowing tribute to the Mohawk val- 
ley baronet in the "Memoirs of An Am- 
erican Lady" by Mrs. Anne Grant, who 
traveled through the Mohawk valley in 
the middle eighteenth century and who 
visited Johnson at his first and second 
houses on the Mohawk. Sir William's 
memory has suffered from the Toryism 
and vandalisms of his son Sir John 
Johnson and the "Johnson party," but 
it is a perversion of "Mohawk Dutch" 
whiggery to vent this resentment on 
William Johnson. Johnson's achieve- 
ments would remain just as great even 
had he been possessed of as many 
concubines as an ancient biblical patri- 
arch. However there is every rea- 
son to believe Sir William was mar- 
ried to both Catherine Wisenberg and 
Molly Brant. Their children inherited 
under the law as legal and legitimate 
heirs. Johnson was married to his 
first wife at Queen Anne's chapel, Fort 
Hunter, by Mr. Barkley, the Episcopal 
minister, and, by at least the Indian 
form of marriage, he was tied up as 
fast to his second wife, Molly Brant, 
as any Mohawk valley daddy of today 
is spliced to his lady boss, by dominie, 
priesr or squire. 

See chronology of Johnson's life in 
chronology of William Johnson, under 
the Mohawk valley chronologies. 



360 



APPENDIX 



When in 1742, Sir William Johnson 
built his stone house, at present 
known as Fort Johnson, he called it 
Mount Johnson. About ten years later, 
at the beginning of the French and 
Indian war, it was fortified and, then 
or later, became known as Fort John- 
son. This has been the cause of con- 
siderable confusion as Johnson called 
his first house, in present Florida 
township, by the name of Fort 
Johnson. 



CHAPTER V. 
In the "1772— Tryon County and the 
Canajoharie and Palatine Districts" 
chapter V. the statement is made that 
"It was almost entirely the influence 
of Sir William Johnson which made 
Tryon county a region unfavorable to 
the cause of independence." The idea 
really meant is not that Sir William 
would have been a Tory had he lived, 
but rather that a strong Tory party 
had grown up around him. Many 
writers incline to the belief that John- 
son would have cast his lot with the 
colonies, or would have at least re- 
mained neutral. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1764 — The General Herkimer House — A 

1913 Description. 

The following is an excellent de- 
scription of the General Herkimer 
house, in Danube, Herkimer county, at 
the time of its being turned over to 
the care of the Daughters of the Am- 
erican Revolution and the German- 
American Alliance, after its purchase 
by the state of New York in 1913. 

As before stated the Herkimer house 
was built by Nicholas Herkimer in 
1764, on his removal from his former 
home at German Flatts to Danube and 
his location on the Herkimer patent at 
Fall Hill, granted to his father, Johan 
Jost Herkimer. It was later occupied 
by his brother, George Herkimer, and 
George's son, John Herkimer, up to 
1817. It was not "built of bricks 
brought from Holland" and probably 
but very few houses were, the popular 
tradition to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. The bricks were doubtless made 



in the Mohawk valley somewhere and 
brought here on the river. The burial 
plot has always been the property of 
the descendants of Capt. George Her- 
kimer, as the editor of this work un- 
derstands it. 

For reference to the Herkimer house 
(as it has been generally called in the 
family) see Chapter XIII, Series I. 
The following account is from the Al- 
bany Knickerbocker Press, Oct. 1, 1913: 

The house is a two-story brick 
structure with basement and attic. 
The foundation is of limestone. The 
bricks are shorter than those made 
nowadays and about six inches wide. 
The fire places are immense affairs, 
and are found in the basement as well 
as on the first and second floors. The 
hallway running through the center 
of the house is a very wide one, and 
has in it a partition shutting off the 
stairway. This partition may not 
have been in the original house. The 
walls are thick and the windows are 
panel backed and have window seats. 
The stair risers are from one inch to 
two inches higher than those now 
built. The boards in such of the orig- 
inal floors as remain are from twenty 
inches to two feet wide and it is evi- 
dent that they were never run through 
a planer. The laths used are split by 
the use of a hatchet, and the roof tim- 
bers are hewn out of red pine and very 
substantial. In one part of the cellar 
are port holes, indicating that it was 
built to withstand a siege, and in the 
other to the right of the fireplace are 
the remains of what appears to have 
once been a tunnel leading out to the 
powder magazine. 

All the rooms on the first and second 
floors are generous in size, and ad- 
joining the main rooms are what may 
have been recesses or sleeping rooms, 
connected by an arch and treated like 
an alcove. On the first floor are few 
decorati\'e features. On the second 
floor is a guest chamber, said to be the 
room in which General Herkimer died. 
The panels in the doors and under the 
windows are in gothic designs, and 
also have a Greek pattern. The mould- 
ing around the mantel and archway is 
ornamented by rosettes, some of which 
have been abstracted by vandals. 
This room easily might be restored 
with good effect. In the attic, the roof 
is supported by trusses and these are 
skilfully and substantially built. 

While the outside of the walls might 
be improved by pointing up, it is no- 
ticeable that the mortar is solid and 
holds the bricks firmly. Although 
these walls were built 150 years ago, 
the mortar is more solid than that 
in the stone walls surrounding the 
cemetery laid in 1896. The roof is hipped. 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



361 



having a double slant. The powder 
magazine is situated under the large 
barn in the rear of the house and about 
forty yards distant. This is an under- 
ground masonry structure about 18x24 
feet and ten feet high. It has an 
arched ceiling of heavy masonry. At 
the front afe two port holes. 

In the dooryard is a granite marker 
with bronze tablet, placed there by 
the German-American Alliance of the 
state, June 14, 1912. It is surrounded 
by an iron fence. Nearby is what ap- 
pears to have been a neighborhood 
graveyard containing perhaps a hun- 
dred marked graves of members of 
his family. This graveyard is sur- 
rounded by a massive stone wall laid 
random. It is co\'ered with a creep- 
ing vine, which just now is scarlet, 
and the bright blue of the Michael- 
mas daisies make a strong contrast 
in colors. 

The granite shaft erected by the 
state of New York in 1S96, rises to a 
height of about seventy-five feet and 
is a stately monument worthy of the 
man. It can be seen for miles. 



1777 — Account of the Herkimer- Brant 
Conference at Unadilla by Joseph 
Wagner, a Palatine Militiaman^ 
The Fonda Democrat under date of 
May 22, 1913, printed (from the papers 
in the possession of the Sammons farn- 
ily of Fonda) a statement made by 
Joseph Wagner (probably of Palatine) 
regarding the famous conference in 
the spring of 1777 between Herkimer 
with a party of Tryon county militia 
and Brant and his warriors, at Una- 
dilla. Wagner was with Capt. Fox's 
company in Col. Klock's regiment of 
Palatine militia. Col. Cox and Major 
Eisenlord are mentioned as also being 
in the force of 300 men under the com- 
mand of Gen. Herkimer. The party 
went to Cherry Valley, evidently by 
way of Fort Plain, where they stayed 
one week, "thence to Lake Otsego, now 
Cooperstown, where we remained one 
day and a night." From here Herki- 
mer sent "an express" to Brant at 
Ockwago asking him to come to Una- 
dilla for a conference. The Ameri- 
cans then marched to Unadilla where 
they waited a week for the Indians 
to appear. Brant arrived with 500 
warriors, "accompanied by Capt. A. 
Bull, William Johnson, son of Sir 
William Johnson by an Indian woman, 
and also an Indian chief." Wagner's 



statement continues: "Brant, having 
encamped, took 40 of his Indians and, 
together with Bull, Johnson and the 
chief, proceeded to where Herkimer 
had encamped. A circle was now 
formed by Herkimer, in which Brant 
with the chief and the other officers 
entered. A conversation having been 
entered into. Brant, for some reason 
or other, became irritated and sent his 
40 Indians to their encampment, when, 
they all at once fired off their rifles as 
a signal for battle. Before Brant left 
he agreed to meet Herkimer at 9 
o'clock next morning in the same place. 
In the morning Gen. Herkimer called 
on me and informed me that he was 
about communicating something in 
confidence, which I must keep a per- 
fect secret. He then told me that he 
had selected myself and three others 
to be present in the circle when Brant 
and those with him should arrive, that 
each was to choose and know his man, 
and, on a given signal, to fire on 
Brant and the three with him. Brant 
arrived, accompanied the same as the 
day before, when he addressed Gen. 
Herkimer, as follows: 'Hundred war- 
riors with me, well-armed and ready 
for battle, you are in my power but, as 
we have been friends and neighbors, I 
will not take advantage. I will go 
back again and for the present you 
may rest assured that no hostilities 
will be committed by the Indians.' 
Herkimer made Brant a present of the 
dozen head of cattle he had brought 
along and Brant's warriors immedi- 
ately killed them with spears and 
tomahawks." The statement continues: 
"It is very probable that Herkimer's 
object was to get Brant to take part 
in the war against Great Britain or, 
at least, during said war to remain 
neutral. But Brant informed him that 
it was now too late and the Indians 
would not remain neutral. Brant went 
west, joined St. Leger at Oswego and 
went with him to the siege of Fort 
Stanwix." Brant's irritation at the 
first day's conference arose from a dis- 
pute with and abuse by Col. Cox. 

Herkimer has been severely criti- 
cised by some historians for the fore- 
going order, but it was a dictate of 



362 



APPENDIX 



common sense, made necessary by the 
dangers of border warfare with a. bar- 
barous race and was thoroughly jus- 
tified. 



county during the Revolutionary 
struggle and a leader in the life and 
events of the constructive period in 
the valley, following the war for inde- 
pendence. 



Christopher P. Yates. 

Christopher P. Yates is frequently 
mentioned in the Revolutionary ac- 
counts of Tryon county. He was a 
member of the well known Mohawk 
valley Yates family and was born 
in 1750, died 1815. Yates was a man 
of education and force in support of 
the American cause, was a lawyer and 
practised in the Tryon and old Mont- 
gomery county courts. In 1774 he held 
a captain's commission and was a 
commissary of then Colonel Nicholas 
Herkimer's brigade. He went with 
Montgomery to Canada as a volunteer 
and it has been suggested that his ad- 
miration for his ill-fated commander 
made him instrumental in changing 
the name of Tryon to Montgomery 
county. Yates raised a company of 
rangers during the war and in 1776 
was made a major in the First New 
York line regiment. He was early 
identified with the Tryon county com- 
mittee of Safety. Christopher P. 
Yates was a delegate, from Tryon 
county, to the first and third provin- 
cial congresses, a member of assem- 
bly, 1774-85-88, 1800-1-2, and the first 
county clerk of Montgomery county, 
being in office from 1777 to 1800, and 
also surrogate 1778-87. He was a 
member of the New York state con- 
vention which ratified the federal con- 
stitution, thereby putting it in force, 
and a member of the first board of re- 
gents of New York. He married Maria 
Frey, daughter of Hendrick Prey, in 
1774 and the Fonda Democrat (from 
which the foregoing facts are taken) 
under date of July 3, 1913, says that 
"he is buried on his old farm, and his 
grave lies uncared for and neglected 
on what is now known as the Devoe 
farm, near Freysbush, in the town of 
Minden." A portrait of Yates painted 
in 1803, was unearthed in 1913, re- 
stored and hung in the county clerk's 
office in Fonda. Christopher P. Yates 
was one of the first patriots of Tryon 



CHAPTER IX. 

In Simms's "Frontiersmen of New 
York" a picture is printed represent- 
ing a view of the blockhouse and, in 
the distance, the Reformed Dutch 
church of Canajoharie district stand- 
ing on Sand Hill. Such a view would 
have been actually impossible, as the 
church was burned by Brant's raiders 
in August, 1780, and the construction 
of the blockhouse was not begun until 
a few months later. 



CHAPTER XI. 
1777 — The Battle of Oriskany Describ- 
ed by Miller and Seeber, Soldier 
Participants. 

This work contains something unique 
in Mohawk valley Revolutionary his- 
tory and in American Revolutionary 
history in its accounts of valley Revo- 
lutionary battles told by soldier par- 
ticipants in the actions and cam- 
paigns which they describe. Chief of 
these (to be found in the appendix) is 
the account of Johnson's great valley 
raid of 1780 and the resultant actions 
at the Middle and Lower Schoharie 
forts and at Stone Arabia, and Klock's 
Field or the Battle of St. Johnsville. 
This wonderfully clear and vivid de- 
scription is by Hon. Thomas Sam- 
mons, a private with Capt. McKean's 
American volunteers, who was in the 
battle of Klock's Field and who knew 
of the other actions by hearsay from 
their soldier participants. The second 
account in importance, is to be found 
in the appendix, and is that of Lieut. 
Wallace, who guided the detachment 
under Major Rowley to the rear of the 
enemy under Ross at the Johnson Hall 
battle, which resulted in the victory of 
Rowley's battalion over a much su- 
perior force. A companion description 
to this is that of Philip Graff, a private 
with Willett's expedition up West Can- 
ada creek in pursuit of Ross's retreat- 
ing little army, Graff describes the 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



363 



battle of Butler's ford and the killing 
of Butler. This is contained at the end 
of Chapter XX., Series I. 

In addititon there are two accounts 
in the appendix of the Oriskany battle 
by two soldiers engaged in that bloody 
struggle. These foregoing descriptions 
of valley actions by Revolutionary sol- 
dier participants are from the Sam- 
mons papers, and, so far as the editor 
of this work knows, have never before 
been contained in any valley historical 
work. They were all published in the 
Fonda Democrat, during the year 1913. 
In this book are also published the 
Oriskany soldiers' anecdotes (from 
Simms), published in Chapter XIII., 
Series I., and the well-known state- 
ment concerning the American sortie 
from Fort Schuyler, written by the 
commander of that movement, Col. 
Willett and originally published and 
contained in Chapter XL, Series I. 

Thus, in "The Story of Old Fort Plain 
and the Middle Mohawk Valley," are 
Revolutionary soldiers' accounts of 
Oriskany, the sortie from Fort Schuy- 
ler, the actions at the Middle and 
Lower Schoharie forts, Stone Arabia, 
Klock's Field (or St. Johnsville battle), 
Johnstown, West Canada creek (or 
Butler's Ford) — eight Mohawk valley 
Revolutionary battles and skirmishes — 
including all the more important valley 
actions of the war for independence 
excepting that of Sharon Springs, of 
which there is a chapter based on that 
in Simms, which was written by him 
from the accounts of American soldier 
participants. No other book than this 
contains all these most important Rev- 
olutionary documents. 



The first of these soldiers' state- 
ments, chronologically, are those con- 
cerning the battle of Oriskany by 
Adam Miller, who then lived in the 
present town of Glen, Montgomery 
county, and of Henry Seeber of Cana- 
joharie township, Montgomery county. 
They follow: 

Adam Miller, a soldier of the Revo- 
lutionary army [from the present town 
of Glen, Montgomery county], states 
that he was, in the year 1777, enrolled 
in Capt. John Davis's company of mi- 



litia in Col. Frederick Visscher's [Mo- 
hawk district of Tryon county] regi- 
ment and said company, being ordered 
out for militia service [he was], en- 
gaged in a battle with the [British] 
enemy at Oriskany, about four miles 
above [present] Utica. Col. Cox [of 
the Canajoharie district regiment] and 
Gen. Herkimer [commanding the 
Tryon county brigade of militia] held 
a consultation previous to the day [of 
the battle, August 6, 1777] upon the 
propriety of an attack, supposing the 
enemy to be greater in number [as 
they proved to be]. Gen. Herkimer ex- 
pressed a desire to send for a rein- 
forcement to which Col. Cox replied, 
"It will not do." Gen. Herkimer then 
replied "March on." They all pro- 
ceeded without delay to march towards 
the enemy with advanced and flank 
guards. After marching a short dis- 
tance the guards were shot off and the 
main body of the army instantly sur- 
rounded by the enemy. A bloody bat- 
tle then ensued. Col. Cox, Capt. Davis 
and Capt. Van Slyck were killed at 
the commencement of the battle. Mil- 
ler was taken prisoner by Capt. John 
Hare soon after Capt. Davis was killed. 
Col. Bellinger [of the German Flatts 
regiment] fired upon the party having 
him prisoner, which set him at liberty, 
and he again joined in battle against 
the enemy. Soon after this the enemy 
advanced with fixed bayonets, in which 
a close attack ensued without the fir- 
ing of guns from either side. Capt. 
Gardinier, on the side of the American, 
and Lieut. MacDonald, of the enemy, 
were actually clinched together, in 
which Capt. Gardinier was thrown to 
the ground and there fastened down 
with two bayonets which were driven 
through his thighs, from which he was 
liberated by Miller. The enemy ap- 
peared to be the strongest party and 
succeeded in taking a number of arms 
from the American army. Capt. Gar- 
dinier instantly followed Lieut. Mac- 
Donald and thrust a spear into his side. 
Many others were actually clinched to- 
gether with bayonets and spears were 
clashing together from both parties. 
Col. Willett having commenced firing 
from the Fort [Schuyler] and the 



364 



APPENDIX 



brave officers and soldiers unwavering 
[and continuing] the battle with great 
energy, they succeeded in driving the 
enemy from the field, leaving, among 
the slain, Capt. Hare and Lieut. Mac- 
Donald on the field of battle, Lieuts. 
Watts and Singleton wounded. They 
then proceeded to make biers [litters] 
for the purpose of removing the 
wounded, in which they succeeded in 
removing them from the field of battle 
unmolested. 



Henry Seeber, of the Canajoharie 
district, in the Sammons papers, gives 
the following statement regarding part 
of the battle of Oriskany: 

He was ordered out in Col. Cox's 
regiment and marched to the German 
Flatts. On the fifth of August march- 
ed with Gen. Herkimer, who command- 
ed a regiment of the Tryon county mi- 
litia, to Thompson's farm, five or six 
miles west of the flats and the last on 
the south side of the river. Here Her- 
kimer wished to wait for a reinforce- 
ment or until Gansevoort could make 
a sally from the fort in his favor. Her- 
kimer sent an express to the fort and, 
if the express could pass the enemy's 
camp and reach the fort, requested 
Gansevoort to give notice to it by fir- 
ing three cannons. Herkimer was very 
desirous, on the morning of the battle, 
to remain where he was until he should 
receive the signal from the fort, but 
was urged and even accused of cow- 
ardice by some of his officers and some 
of the principal men of Tryon county. 
He therefore attempted to pass the 
enemy; when, after marching some 
distance, his advanced guard came 
upon some of the enemy. A few min- 
utes told him he was completely within 
the ambush of the enemy. We were 
engaged most warmly on our south 
side as on the north to the river was 
very swampy ground. One Jacob 
Peeler commenced forming [men in] 
a circle, without having orders from 
any officers, about an hour after the 
battle had commenced, and all soon 
followed his example. 

Jacob Peeler's name does not appear 
on any Oriskany roster. Many names 
could be added, probably, with further 



effort. The tactics of forming the Am- 
ericans into circles during the Oris- 
kany battle has been credited to others 
than Peeler. 

Miller's description would indicate 
that Col. Willett's sortie from Fort 
Schuyler, against the British camp, 
drew off such a large portion of the 
British force, engaged in attacking 
the valley militia, that they were there- 
after able to withdraw unmolested 
from the Oriskany battlefield. W'ith- 
out this help from Col. Gansevo.ort's 
garrison, the Tryon county farmers 
might have been utterly destroyed and 
defeated. Also it is more than prob- 
able that a well-arranged and con- 
certed attack on St. Leger's army by 
the Tryon county militia and Ganse- 
voort's garrison [their combined Am- 
erican forces equalling the British 
party] would probably have defeated 
and have effectually repulsed the Brit- 
ish invaders. It was such an attack 
that Gen. Herkimer planned and the 
execution of which was prevented by 
the insubordination of his officers and 
soldiers. 



The Indian word from which Oris- 
kany was derived was Ole-hisk, mean- 
ing "the nettles" — a most appropriate 
title considering the conflict there. 



1777 — Capt. McDonald's Tory and In- 
dian Invasion of Schoharie — Flockey 
Battle. 

Capt. McDonald with 150 Indians and 
Tories invaded the Schoharie valley 
at Brakabeen on August 10, 1777, four 
days after the battle of Oriskany. The 
valley was then in a defenseless con- 
dition and Col. John Harper, the fa- 
mous Schoharie patriot, rode to Al- 
bany for aid in repelling this irruption 
of the enemy. He was followed by 
two hostile Indians, whom he com- 
pelled to fly at the points of his pis- 
tols. Harper reached Albany, August 
12; 28 cavalrymen were dispatched 
back to the Schoharie country with 
Col. Harper. After a ride from Al- 
bany of 45 miles the cavalrymen, join- 
ed by the Schoharie militia under Col. 
Harper, met the enemy at the house of 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



365 



Adam Crysler, near the upper end of 
Vroomanland, near a place called 
"The Flockey," August 13, 1777. A 
few shots and a charge by the cavalry 
made the invaders fly in disorder. 
David Wirt, lieutenant of the cavalry, 
was killed and he was the first patriot 
to fall in the Schoharie country. Two 
privates were wounded — one, named 
Rose, mortally. Some 20 Schoharie 
Tories joined the enemy on their re- 
treat to Niagara. This is known as 
the "Battle at the Flockey," the name 
meaning "the swamp" or swampy 
ground, and was the first Revolution- 
ary action in the Schoharie valley. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
The New York legislature of 1913 
passed an act authorizing the purchase 
by the state of the Gen. Herkimer 
homestead in Danube, which bill has 
been signed by Gov. Sulzer. The 
house is to be under the joint care of 
the German-American Alliance and the 
Daughters of the American Revolution. 
A movement is on foot (1913) looking 
toward the purchase of the Oriskany 
battlefield. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
1778— Battle of Cobleskill. 

1778, May 30, occurred what is 
known as the battle of Cobleskill. 
Brant and 300 of the enemy ambus- 
caded 50 American regulars and mi- 
litia under Capts. Patrick and Brown. 
Twenty- five Americans were killed or 
wounded and the rest, together with 
the settlers of Cobleskill, escaped to 
Schoharie. 



Additional Facts Concerning Helmer's 
Heroic Run of 1778. 
Herman GTeen of Seattle, Wash., 
writes (1913) as follows concerning the 
great feat of John Adam Helmer in 
his long run to warn the Fort Her- 
kimer-German Flats section of the 
approach of Indian raiders in 1778; 
"When Helmer got back as far as the 
old Warren road, about one-half mile 
south of the river road, just west of 
the village of Mohawk at the top of 



the first long hill, he met an Indian 
and each of them dodged behind a large 
hemlock tree. Neither of them dared 
step out. Helmer put his hat on his 
ramrod and held it out so that the In- 
dian could see it. The Indian shot and 
the hat fell. He came to scalp his sup- 
posed victim and Helmer shot him. 
The Indians were camped just east of 
the road in a valley. The trees were 
pointed out to me seventy years ago, 
and I always looked for those trees 
when passing that way. My brother 
Walter and I went there in September 
and located the places where the trees 
stood. I would like to see the place 
marked." 



CHAPTER XV. 

1779 — Gen. Clinton's Route From Can- 
ajoharie to Otsego Lake. 

The route of General Clinton 
from the Mohawk valley to Otsego 
lake, in 1779, has been the sub- 
ject of endless controversy. The Can- 
ajoharie, Happy Hollow and Fort 
Plain (Otsquago valley) roads have all 
been stated to be the way by which 
this American army and its supplies 
and flatboats journeyed to join Gen. 
Sullivan's force. It is probable that 
some of the troops, at least, went by 
the Fort Plain road. The route from 
Canajoharie is the generally accepted 
one on which the main body and the 
wagons carrying the batteaux, bag- 
gage and supplies went. S. L. Frey 
says that the Clinton expedition used 
the roads then in existence to Otsego 
lake, although the American troops 
may have cut a road from Springfield 
to the head of the lake near Hyde 
Hall, where the boats were probably 
launched. It would have been prac- 
tically impossible for Clinton's men to 
make a new road from present Cana- 
joharie village to Otsego lake in the 
few weeks the American armj' was in 
this vicinity and roads (probably very 
bad ones) were already in use. Mr. 
Frey gives the following as Clinton's 
probable route from Canajoharie vil- 
lage to the lake: "It * * * * led 
from the mills on the creek *o Lind- 



366 



APPENDIX 



sey's Bush, as Cherry Valley was first 
called. Some parts of it are still in 
use. It is 'the old Cherry Valley road.' 
From the mills it climbed the hill, past 
the Diedrick Sloan place; then straight 
on westward north of the French 
place; past the reservoir; then on past 
the Amos Klinkhart place and the 
Bullock and Goertner farms, and so 
on to Marshville; past the Rougher 
farm, and then on to Buel and Sprout 
Brook, where it separated, one branch 
going to the left to Cherry Valley, the 
other branch going straight on to 
Springfield." From here the American 
soldiers may have cut a road to Hyde 
Bay through a few miles of wilderness. 
This last short stretch is known as 
"the Continental road." The Canajo- 
harie, Happy Hollow and Fort Plain 
roads to Cherry Valley, Springfield and 
Otsego lake were all in existence in 
1779 and probably followed prior In- 
dian trails. It is possible all three 
may have been used and Fort Plain 
probably figured in some of Clinton's 
preparations, as it was the nearest 
army post to his point of departure 
from the Mohawk. A monument, 
erected by the D. A. R. in Canajoharie 
village, marks Clinton's point of de- 
parture from that place for Otsego 
lake. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Sammons papers give an ac- 
count of a militiaman, who was with 
Col. Wemple's Albany and Schenectady 
militia which went to the relief of Fort 
Plain when Brant made his Minden 
raid of August 1, 1780. Wemple's force 
exceeded Brant's and the Americans 
marched up to Fort Plain and formed 
for battle there, on the flats, with can- 
non. Wemple evidently expected 
Brant to attack him but the Indian 
commander seems to have leisurely 
withdrawn up the Otsquago valley, 
without being hindered by Wemple, 
who seems to have been very derelict. 
A party of Tryon militia, largely on 
their own initiative, pursued a small 
party of Indians and recaptured one of 
their white prisoners. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

1780 — Johnson's Raid and Battles of 
Stone Arabia and Johnstown De- 
scribed by Thomas Sammons, an 
American Volunteer. 

The following account of Johnson's 
great raid of 1780 through the Scho- 
harie and Mohawk valleys and the ac- 
tions of Stone Arabia and Klock's 
Field was written by Thomas Sam- 
mons, who was a militiaman with Capt. 
McKean's volunteers, and who joined 
Van Rensselaer's American army at 
Caughnawaga. Accounts t f Revolu- 
tionary battles and marches by sol- 
dier participants are rare. This is the 
third account of a Mohawk valley Rev- 
olutionary action by a soldier-partici- 
pant and by far the most important. 
In all there are five such descriptions 
in this work, as before mentioned. For 
these unique documents we are indebt- 
ed to the Sammons papers and their 
publications in the Fonda Democrat by 
its editor, William B. Wemple, an au- 
thority on valley history, whose fre- 
quent printings of valuable histori- 
cal papers have been of the greatest 
assistance in the preparation of this 
work. 

So far as the editor of this work 
knows, this is the only book which 
contains these five Revolutionary mi- 
litiamen's accounts of Mohawk valley 
battles in which they were engaged 
and the only publication which em- 
bodies a similar number of such Revo- 
lutionary accounts by soldier partici- 
pants published anywhere. The sol- 
diers' experiences at Oriskany, pub- 
lished in Simms, are anecdotes of the 
fight and not accounts of battles, like 
the five Revolutionary valley militia- 
m.en's descriptions published in "The 
Story of Old Fort Plain and the Middle 
Mohawk Valley." 

Thomas Sammons gathered a great 
deal of Mohawk valley Revolutionary 
history at first hand and he well de- 
serves the title of our first valley his- 
torian. He was a congressman from 
old Montgomery county, a member of 
the well-known Sammons family (his 
father was the pioneer, Sampson Sam- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



367 



mons) of the town of Mohawk, Mont- 
gomery county. Col. Simeon Sam- 
mons, of the 115th New York Volun- 
teer Regiment, was the son of Thomas 
Sammons. 

Sammons's account of Johnson's great 
raid and the battles of Stone Arabia 
and Klock's Field (St. Johnsville) fol- 
low: 

"In the fall of the year 1780 Sir John 
Johnson made an incursion upon our 
frontiers, in which he unfortunately 
too well succeeded. He started from 
Lachine in Canada, his forces con- 
sisting of three companies of his own 
regiment and one company of German 
Yagers, and came to Oswego, where he 
was joined by one company of regu- 
lars of the 8th Regt., Butler's rangers 
and about 200 Indians under the com- 
mand of Joseph Brant, his whole num- 
ber consisting of about 800 or 1,000 
persons, including Indians. Sir John 
Johnson had with him one three 
pounder and two brass mortars which 
were dragged through the woods by 
horses having poles or shafts attached 
to their breasts. Each man was sup- 
plied with eighty musket cartridges 
and every two alternately carried a 
cartridge for their cannon. 

"From Oswego he proceeded in boats 
as far as Onondaga lake, where he 
concealed his boats in a creek and pro- 
ceeded on his march for Schoharie, go- 
ing by way of Service's place on the 
Charlotte river and arrived at Scho- 
harie on the morning of the 16th of 
October, passed by the upper fort and, 
coming near the middle fort, some of 
his party set fire to a building, which 
was seen by the sentinel. This mid- 
dle fort was under the command of 
Major Wolsey, having 150 state troops 
and 50 militia. Lieut. Spencer was 
ordered to take 60 volunteers and ex- 
amine into the cause of the fire. On 
calling for volunteers all wished to go 
and forty were counted from the right. 
Lieut. Spencer advanced in the di- 
rection of the fire and soon fell in 
with the advanced part of Sir John's 
party and after firing three rounds 
upon them retreated into the fort with- 
out having lost a man. The alarm gun 
being fired, Major Wolsey prepared for 



defending the fort and again sent out 
Lieut. Spencer with his volunteers to 
protect a barn and some stacks of 
grain that were near the fort; in doing 
so lost one man named L. Yons. The 
enemy passed from the south to the 
northeast of the fort keeping up a 
continual fire with small arms. They 
stopped within a short distance to the 
northeast and placed their three 
pounder on the brow of a hill from 
whence they commenced firing upon 
the fort. Some five or six cannon balls 
were fired into different buildings be- 
longing to the fort and three into the 
mud walls. Some bombs were also 
thrown by the enemy which caused no 
other mischief than falling in one of 
the buildings fired a lud which was 
soon extinguished. 

"The fort, having no port holes in the 
direction from which the fire of the 
enemy was received, a platform was 
raised and a cannon being placed upon 
it, the first fire of which silenced them. 
A white flag was seen to approach the 
fort to demand a surrender and orders 
were given by Major Wolsey that fir- 
ing should discontinue in the fort. 
Murphy, a soldier, stationed himself at 
a port hole opposite to where the flag 
was advancing. He was one of those 
whose noble daring on many occa- 
sions, had cost the enemy much loss 
and knew that for himself, if taken, 
there would be no mercy and said he 
would not be taken alive. He was or- 
dered not to fire and one of the oflftcers 
threatened to dispatch him with his 
sword but, being supported by the mi- 
litia, he fired upon the fiag and it re- 
treated. Again it advanced and again 
he fired. A third time it advanced 
from another quarter and a third time 
he fired. Then Sir John immediately 
commenced his march towards the 
lower fort, burning, plundering and 
destroying cattle, etc.; having passed 
to the west side of Schoharie creek 
where he encamped until the follow- 
ing morning; when, passing down 
along said creek, late in the afternoon 
of that day he arrived at Fort Hunter 
on the Mohawk river. Somewhere be- 
tween the lower fort and Fort Hunter 
on a low, marshy piece of ground the 



368 



APPENDIX 



two brass mortars were sunk and yet 
remain there. When Sir John Johnson 
arrived at Fort Hunter he sent Capt. 
Duncan to the north side of the Mo- 
hawk with some Indians and three 
companies of his Greens; the rest of 
his men he retained with himself on 
the south side of the river. Sir John, 
on the south, and Captain Duncan, on 
the north, commenced their march 
west along the Mohawk, burning and 
destroying everything possible in their 
course, until near daybreak when they 
came at a place called the Nose Hill 
where they encamped opposite each 
other. [Oct. 19, 1780.] 

"General Robert Van Rensselaer was 
in pursuit of Sir John on the south 
side of the river with a strong force 
of militia and encamped at Charles 
Van Epps's, a short distance below 
and opposite Caughnawaga the same 
time Sir John encamped at the Nose 
Hill. The next morning, as Van Rens- 
selaer was marching up the south side 
of the Mohawk, he was joined by Capt. 
McKean, with some eighty volunteers 
who joined with the Oneida Indians. 
He now numbered about fifteen hun- 
dred [in his army]. 

"Sir John decamped before Van Rens- 
selaer came up with him, and going a 
short distance farther up the river 
crossed to the north side by fording, 
leaving on the north bank of the river 
40 men to prevent Van Rensselaer 
crossing. Capt. Duncan, who was on 
the north side, turned from the river 
at the Nose Hill and went in the di- 
rection of Oswegotchie. Sir John con- 
tinued marching west along the river 
until he came to Sprakers, where he 
sent off north a detachment. These, as 
well as those with Capt. Duncan, were 
plundering and destroying all they 
could to meet Sir John on the old Stone 
Arabia; he himself, after continuing 
along the river for about two miles 
further, turned off for Stone Arabia 
and was met by the detachment he 
had first sent off. 

"Col. Brown was in Fort Paris and 
the night before had received orders 
from Gen. Van Rensselaer that if Sir 
John should approach Stone Arabia, 
that he, Brown, with those in the fort, 



should engage Sir John in front while 
Van Rensselaer would at the same 
time engage him in the rear. 

"Consequently Col. Brown sallied 
from the fort having 135 soldiers, and 
after marching three miles met [Oct. 
19, 1780] to engage Sir John about one 
mile from the river on a farm owned 
by Shaver; but, being unsupported, 
was soon killed with forty of his men 
and the rest escaping as best they 
could to the fort. Capt. Duncan had 
not joined Sir John. He now dispers- 
ed his men in small companies for a 
distance of five or six miles round the 
country. Later in the afternoon Sir 
John reunited his forces and, leaving 
Stone Arabia one complete waste, 
marched to the river road east of Car- 
oga creek and, passing around Fox's 
Fort, continued his march west. 

"In the meantime Gen. Van Rensse- 
laer was on the south side of the river, 
in the morning when he came opposite 
the forty men Johnson had left to 
guard the fording place; halted but 
made no attempt to cross the river. 
Van Rensselaer had with him a num- 
ber of field pieces. William Harper 
rode to the banks of the river, was 
fired at by one of the enemy to whom 
he took off his hat, and returned on a 
walk. Van Rensselaer still remaining 
on the south side marched west when 
opposite to where Col. Brown had en- 
gaged Sir John the firing was distinctly 
heard as also the warwhoops of the 
Canada Indians. Van Rensselaer, 
about 11 o'clock a. m., halted opposite 
to Peter Ehle's [in present Nelliston 
village], three miles below where the 
Caroga creek enters into the Mohawk 
river. A few of Brown's men at this 
place came running to the river and, 
jumping in, forded to the south side. 
As they came to the bank Van Rens- 
selaer enquired of them where they 
came from. One, Samuel Van Alter, a 
militia officer, answered: 

" 'Escaped out of Brown's battle.' 

" 'How has it gone?' 

" 'Col. Brown is killed with many of 
his men. Are you not agoing there?' 

" 'I am not acquainted with the ford- 
ing place,' was Van Rensselaer's 
. reply. 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



369 



"He was answered that it was not 
difficult. Van Rensselaer then asked 
Van Alter if he could go before, who, 
though tired, said he could. 

"Col. Lewis Dubois at this -moment 
rode up to Gen. Van Rensselaer who 
instantly mounted his horse and, as 
was understood, went to Fort Plain to 
take dinner with Col. Dubois. Col. 
Lewe and Capt. McKean marched the 
Indians and volunteers through the 
river to the north side, expectfng Gen. 
Van Rensselaer would do the same. 
Van Rensselaer's baggage wagons 
were now driven into the river into a 
line and stopped, reaching most of the 
way across the river; his men then 
commenced crossing in a single line 
by getting on the back part of the first 
wagon, crossing over it, walking on the 
tongue between the horses, and thus to 
the next wagon and so on until they 
came to the end of the wagons; they 
then got into the river and forded to 
the north bank. In this manner they 
continued crossing until four o'clock in 
the afternoon when Gen. Van Rens- 
selaer returned just as the last man 
was over. When Gen. Van Rensselaer 
came to the south bank Col. Louis 
shook his sword at him and called him 
a Tory and when he came to the north 
bank he was addressed by William 
Harper who thought by this unneces- 
sary delay too great a sacrifice of prop- 
erty and lives had been made. Col. 
Lewis Dubois marched his regiment of 
state troops into the river and crossed 
in a few minutes; the cannons were 
all left on the south side of the river. 

"Gen. Van Rensselaer now appeared 
in much haste and, being assisted by 
Major Van Benschoten and Col. Du- 
bois, the men were formed into three 
divisions, except the Oneida Indians 
and the volunteers under McKean, who 
continued by themselves without any 
regular order. 

"Gen Van Rensselaer marched two of 
his divisions on the flat ground and the 
third under command of Col. Dubois 
some distance above the road in the 
woods. The volunteers of McKean and 
the Oneida Indians, under command of 
Col. Ivouis [the friendly Oneida chief- 
tain] were directly opposed to the 



Canadian Indians and Yagers. Sir 
John stood fast and Gen. Van Rense- 
laer advanced firing at a distance. The 
Canada Indians gave the war whoop 
and were answered by the Oneidas; 
they rushed simultaneously forward 
until near together. Col. Dubois had 
no one to oppose him. Some of his 
men came to the assistance of the 
Oneidas and volunteers. They then 
advanced upon the Canada Indians 
and Yagers who fied with greatest 
precipitancy crossing the road and 
running in the rear of Sir John's men 
on the flats to cover themselves. This 
was all the fighting that was done, for, 
as Johnson saw his Indians and Ya- 
gers running, he fled with them, leav- 
ing his men, crossed the river and es- 
caped as fast as they could. 

"It was now near evening. Major 
Van Benschoten of Col. Dubois's divi- 
sion was hastening to Gen. Van Rens- 
selaer to request orders to fall upon 
the rear of the enemy. At this mo- 
ment when Sir John had fled from his 
own men and they were thrown into 
perfect confusion, Gen. Van Rensse- 
laer marched his three divisions to the 
road and, turning east, traveled back 
three miles to Foxe's Fort [at Pala- 
tine Church], where he encamped for 
the night. Col. Louis and Capt. Mc- 
Kean did not obey orders but remain- 
ed that night in buildings that were 
near. After dark some of the Tryon 
county militia who had volunteered, as 
also some of the Indians, took some 
prisoners, a number of knapsacks, 
guns and the fleld piece. 

"Johnson's Greens, finding their com- 
mander had deserted them, broke their 
ranks and hid in a cornfield and the 
regulars for some time remained in 
their ranks without doing anything 
and finally went in pursuit of their 
officer. 

"The following morning Col. Louis 
and McKean crossed the river to pur- 
sue the enemy. Between 8 and 9 
o'clock Gen. Van Rensselaer came back 
upon the battleground. While Mc- 
Kean was waiting for Gen. Van Rens- 
selaer to cross the river one of his 
volunteers [Thomas Sammons], hear- 
ing there were some prisoners in a 



370 



APPENDIX 



small picket fort nearby, called Ft. 
Windecker, went to it where an Indian 
was shot the evening before trying to 
look into it. On going in he found 
nine prisoners and one of them he 
knew and had been a near Tory neigh- 
bor. On asking him how he got there 
he said he was ashamed to tell him. 
The volunteer's statement was as fol- 
lows: 

" 'I went into Windecker's to see the 
prisoners, and spoke to the prisoners, 
one of them having lieen a near neigh- 
bor of my father [by name]" Peter Cass. 
He also informed me they had con- 
cealed themselves in a corn Held till 
after dark before they crossed the 
river. I am satisfied if McKean and 
Ijouis had us, the volunteers and In- 
dians, immediately out in pursuit of the 
enemy after Van Rensselaer's retreat 
they would have taken two or three 
hundred prisoners without much diffi- 
culty. How strange it is that such 
men as DuBois and Van Benschoten 
obeyed orders. [Said Cass] : Last night 
after the battle we crossed the river; 
it was dark; we heard the word 'Lay 
down your arms.' Some of us did so; 
we were taken and nine of us marched 
into this little fort. Seven militia took 
nine of us prisoners out the rear of 
about 300 of Johnson's Greens, who 
were running promiscuously through 
one another. I thought Van Rensse- 
laer's whole army was in our rear. 
Why did you not take us prisoners yes- 
terday after Sir John ran off with his 
Indians and left us? We wanted to 
surrender.' " 

"Sir John with the Indians and Yag- 
ers, thinking the rest of his forces had 
been taken prisoners, under cover of 
the woods, directed his course for the 
Onondaga lake, where his boats had 
been concealed. Those he left behind 
after crossing the river, continued on 
the main road west until Herkimer, 
where, avoiding the fort, took to the 
woods and overtook Sir John before 
he reached Oneida. 

"Gen. Van Rensselaer, having crossed 
to the south side, pursued in the direc- 
tion of the enemy until he reached 
[Port] Herkimer, where he was met 
by Gov. Clinton. He accompanied Van 
Rensselaer but did not assume the 
command. Col. Louis and Cap. Mc- 
Kean, being in the advance, received 
positive orders from Gen. Van Rens- 
selaer to advance with all possible dis- 
patch, overtake and engage Johnson's 



men and that he would close in the 
rear and support him. Col. Louis and 
McKean advanced and the next morn- 
ing, coming where the trails of Sir 
John's Indians and his men that fol- 
lowed him met, they halted, knowing 
that they were some distance in ad- 
vance of Gen. Van Rensselaer, until 
he should come nearer. A few were 
sent forward to reconnoitre. Col. Du- 
bois came to bring orders from Gen. 
Van Rensselaer ordering McKean and 
Col. Louis to hasten forward, engage 
the enemy and assuring them of sup- 
port. MeKean and Louis hastened 
forward and soon came where the 
enemy had just decamped leaving their 
fires burning. The volunteers were 
anxious to engage, but the Oneidas for 
the first time hesitated. Col. Louis 
shook his head and, pointing in the di- 
rection of Gen. Van Rensselaer, re- 
fused to advance until he should come 
near. There was a halt for some time 
when a Doctor Allen came up stating 
that Gen. Van Rensselaer was return- 
ing and was at least four miles dis- 
tant and if he had not overtaken them 
there would not have gone farther for 
he [Allen] was just on the point of go- 
ing back. 

"The night previous Gen. Van Rens- 
selaer sent an express to Fort Stanwix 
ordering Capt. Vrooman to precede 
Johnson with 100 men and burn the 
boats which had been left at Onondaga 
Lake. Captain Vrooman immediately 
set out as directed. When he came to 
Oneida one of his men pretended to be 
sick and was left there. His object in 
staying was to inform Sir John of 
Capt. Vrooman's intention which he 
did. Sir John soon came up with this 
wicked informer and, knowing the de- 
plorable situation in which he would 
1)6 left should his boats be burned, im- 
mediately sent forward his Indians 
and Butler's rangers with all possible 
despatch. At Caughnawaga [not the 
Montgomery county Caughnawaga, or 
Fonda, but a place of the same name 
in the Oneida country] they overtook 
Capt. Vrooman and came upon him 
when eating dinner, taking him and all 
his men prisoners without firing a gun. 
Sir John then proceeded unmolested 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



371 



on his return, which after much fa- 
tigue, he with difficulty effected, hav- 
ing lost about 100 of his men killed and 
taken prisoners. 

"The news that Dr. Allen brought 
Capt. McKean and Col. Louis, who then 
had about 160 militia and Indians, 
caused them to retreat as fast as they 
could; overtook Gen. Van Rensselaer 
at Herkimer and encamped that night 
in the woods. The Tryon county mi- 
litia were dismissed and the Oneida 
Indians returned to Schenectady, 
where they removed some time pre- 
vious, and remained there until peace 
was declared. [They] were always 
ready in rendering many profitable ser- 
vices in repelling the frequent and de- 
structive incursions of the enemy. 

"Gen. Van Rensselaer returned and 
dismissed his men at Schenectady, Al- 
bany and Claverack where they had 
been enrolled. It is here proper to 
add that when Sir John marched up 
the south side of the Mohawk river 
Gen. Van Rensselaer was very near to 
him, Sir John passing Van Epps' just 
before dark and Van Rensselaer en- 
camping there, just after Sir John oc- 
cupied the greater part of the night 
in going six miles, the river separating 
him from a large portion of his men; 
burning a great many buildings, de- 
stroying property and plundering and 
laying waste the country in the very 
face of Gen. Van Rensselaer. Sir 
John's men were tired with their long 
marches and laboring under knapsacks 
heavily laden with provisions and 
plunder, whereas Gen. Van Rensse- 
laer's were fresh troops and unbur- 
dened. The delay of Gen. Van Rens- 
selaer, his orders to Col. Brown, those 
to Capt. McKean and Col. Louis as also 
those to Capt. Vrooman, could not 
have been given in any way in which 
they would have more assisted Sir 
John, either in effecting his retreat or 
doing injury to the country. * * * * 

"When my father's buildings were 
burned and my brothers taken prison- 
ers the pain that I received was not 
as great as this conduct on the part of 
Gen. Robert Van Rensselaer. 

"With regard to the battle on Klock's 
farm and the facts stated in the an- 



nexed papers, I would say that I joined 
with Capt. McKean as a volunteer and 
met Gen. Van Rensselaer on the south 
side of the river, opposite Caughna- 
waga, early in the morning [of Oct. 19, 
1780, the day of the battle of Stone 
Arabia, in the morning, and of Klock's 
Field, in the evening] ; of my own 
knowledge know most of the facts to 
be as they are stated; stayed with the 
volunteers after the battle, and had 
the conversation with one of the pris- 
oners in Windecker fort as is stated; 
was with Capt. McKean when he had 
orders to advance and overtake Sir 
John, and a short time after saw Dr. 
Allen who came to inquire as to why 
Van Rensselaer was returning. With 
regard to the route of Sir John John- 
son, that [is] from those of his own 
party who are now living and men of 
undoubted veracity. 

"THOMAS SAMMONS." 
— Prom Fonda Democrat, June, 1913. 

Thomas Sammons was engaged in a 
number of valley Revolutionary mili- 
tary movements. He was with the mi- 
litia under Col. Wemple when it march- 
ed to the relief of Fort Plain at the 
time of Brant's raid about that post in 
1780. Sammons was also in the Johns- 
town battle in 1781, where he captured 
a British prisoner at the end of the ac- 
tion and brought him in to the Johns- 
town jail, where he, Sammons, counted 
37 British prisoners taken on that day. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Monuments to and Portraits of Colonel 

Willett. 

Although the editor of these chap- 
ters knows of no monument erected to 
the memory of Colonel Marinus Wil- 
lett, in the Mohawk valley, there are 
two memorials to him, erected at Al- 
bany and at New York. The one in 
Washington park, Albany, is a bronze 
tablet, affixed to a massive boulder 
and was erected by the Sons of the 
Revolution. It commemorates partic- 
ularly Willett's services in the defense 
of the New York state frontier. 

The inscription on the tablet to Col. 
Willett, at the corner of Broad and 



372 



APPENDIX 



Beaver streets, New York City, is as 
follows: 

"Marinus Willett: Oriskany, Mon- 
mouth, Ticonderoga, Fort Stanwix, 
Peekskill. 

"To commemorate the gallant and 
patriotic act of Marinus Willett, in 
here seizing, June 6, 1775, from British 
forces, the muskets with which he 
armed his troops, this tablet is erected 
by the Sons of the Revolution, Nov., 
1892." 

There are portraits of Col. Willett 
in the New York City hall and in In- 
dependence Hall, Philadelphia. 



CHAPTER XX. 

1781 — Lieut. Wallace's Story of the 
Battle of Johnstown. 

The papers, collected by Hon. 
Thomas Sammons, the Revolutionary 
patriot, and known as "the Sammons 
papers" contain an account of the bat- 
tle of Johnstown by Lieutenant Wil- 
liam Wallace. He was the guide who 
evidently piloted the Tryon county mi- 
litia detachment, under the command 
of Major Rowley, to take up their po- 
sition in the rear of and attack Ross's 
force from behind while Col. Willett 
made the frontal attack. Willett's 
men were defeated but Rowley's sol- 
diers made such a stubborn attack 
against three times their number that 
the enemy fled when Willett returned 
to the attack. It would seem from 
Wallace's narrative that the victory 
was almost entirely due to the regulars 
and local militia under Major Rowley, 
who was severely wounded. The date 
of the Johnstown battle was October 
25, 1781. 

Col. Willett's force numbered only 
416 men and Ross had over 700. Hence 
Willett resorted to the strategy of an 
attack in front and rear at the same 
time. His forces were evidently about 
evenly divided, giving about 200 men 
under Willett and 200 under Rowley. 
The latter had 60 Massachusetts regu- 
lars and about 150 Tryon county mi- 
litia. Willett attacked Ross in front, 
evidently before Rowley got up. 
Greatly outnumbered, Willett's men 
were driven back to Johnstown shortly 



after which Rowley attacked Ross in 
the rear with great success and when 
Willett returned to the fight the enemy 
fled to the woods and the American 
victory of Johnstown was complete. 
After Willett was reinforced in Johns- 
town village by a party of Tryon mi- 
litia, it is evident that over half his 
force, which then numbered 500, were 
Mohawk valley militiamen. 

Lieut. Wallace's account is a most 
interesting document relative to this 
important valley campaign and it is 
seemingly the best description of the 
Johnstown battle that has come under 
the notice of the editor of this work. 
It was originally published in the Mo- 
hawk Valley Democrat of Fonda, and 
is here reprinted in full, as follows: 

"Col. Willett, having sent Rowley on 
with the militia to come in the rear of 
Ross, continued his march with the 
state troops on the main road through 
the village of Johnstown to the Hall 
farm, where Ross had arrived a little 
before. When Willett advanced, Ross 
fell back a short distance in the woods 
[and] formed an ambush. Willett's 
advance guard advanced in the woods 
while Willett formed his men on the 
field, with his field piece, for battle. 
His advance was repulsed with some 
loss. Ross ordered his men to leave 
their knapsacks where the ambush 
was formed and formed his men for 
battle. [He] advanced up to Willett 
on the field with his whole force 
[and] attacked him very furious. In 
a few minutes, Willett's men retreated 
and run in confusion to the village oi 
Johnstown [and] left their field piece 
with the enemy. [The enemy] pursued 
Willett's men until near the village of 
Johnstown, about one mile. Ross * * 
* * [did not know] the militia was 
in his rear [and] expected he had de- 
feated all the forces Willett had col- 
lected, so Major Rowley came on them 
unexpectedly, while some were as 
much as a mile apart looking for 
plunder. Willett and Ross had com- 
menced their engagement about one 
o'clock. Rowley attacked Ross about 
two o'clock. 

"Lieut. William Wallace, who 
brought on the Tryon county militia. 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



373 



[had been] appointed by Col. Willett 
as a pilot under the command of Major 
Rowley of Massachusetts. This de- 
tachment was sent from Col. Willett 
[over] the road leading to the river 
on the hill south of the village [of 
Johnstown] and crossed the creek 
near where Nicholas Yost's mill is and 
went onward till some distance above 
the Hall, then came downward to the 
east on the north side of the Hall 
creek, when, coming near or by the 
clear lands they discovered the enemy 
in different places on the Hall farm. 

"The enemy soon formed some of 
their men. Rowley's men advanced, 
fired on the enemy, [and] the enemy 
immediately advanced with some of 
their men to the right of Rowley along 
or near the Hall creek. Rowley or- 
dered Wallace to meet them. Some of 
the men volunteered [and] they run 
to meet them. Wallace told the men 
not to fire till he told them, but one of 
his men fired and killed the officer 
[who] marched forward. When they 
fired from both parties, the enemy's 
detachment run. Rowley found the 
enemy collected [in] considerable force 
and stood. * * * [jje] then re- 
ceived a ball through the ankle. He 
was carried back and the enemy then 
retreated back of a fence from where 
they were soon routed to another place 
where they made a stand. The enemy, 
having left some men with a fiel'd 
piece they had taken from Willett, they 
were also attacked by some militiamen. 
They abandoned it, the ammunition 
was blown up [and] the field piece was 
no more used that day. The militia- 
men left the cannon and fell on the 
enemy [and] generally routed the 
enemy; but in some part of the scrim- 
maging [the enemy] drove the militia 
back. None of the militia left the 
field, they continued to prevent Ross 
from uniting his men together and, 
about sunset, Ross's men had all left 
the field and the militia had gained a 
complete victory. About this time 
Willett returned from the village of 
Johnstown. The militiamen brought 
[in] about 40 prisoners, picked forth 
from scattered men of Ross's men — 
proV)ably not above two or three taken 
together. 



"Willett, when he fell back to the 
village, received about 100 of the Tryon 
county militia. Why this delay of 
Willett was is difficult to know — from 
two to six o'clock. [He had] a much 
superior force in the village to Row- 
ley, after he was joined with 100 mi- 
litiamen. After Major Rowley was 
wounded, it is difficult to know, who 
was commander. Some privates, 
where small parties met, assumed 
command. The officers, wherever they 
were, did their duty — no confusion or 
none left the field until the enemy 
was completely drove from the field. 

"Thus, for a second time, the militia 
of Tryon county, defeated the enemy 
with a very inferior number. At Oris- 
kany, the enemy were two to one in a 
battle of about five hours [and] were 
completely drove back [and] left Her- 
kimer unmolested to make biers [lit- 
ters] and carry their wounded off. 
With Ross left, then 250 [American 
soldiers] drove Ross from the field 
with seven or 800 men — like bulldogs, 
'hold fast or die with the holt.' " 



CHAPTER XXI. 
The "Sammons papers" give an ac- 
count by Jacob Timmerman of his 
capture, in the Palatine district, "by 
Indians who came over from Oswe- 
gatchie, about 25 in number." This 
was in 1782, while Timmerman was 
out with a scouting party of six. The 
Indians fired on them, killing two. 
Two escaped and Timmerman, who 
was wounded, and Peter Hillicos were 
captured. The party took a week to 
return to Oswegatchie, from whence 
they were taken to Montreal, where 
Timmerman was put in a hospital to 
be cured of his wound. He and Hilli- 
cos were afterward closely confined 
until the end of hostilities. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
The Part Played by the Women, Chil- 
dren and Youth in Mohawk Valley 
History. 

An effort has l)een made, in "The 
Story of Old Fort Plain and the Middle 
Mohawk Valley," to give due promi- 
nence to the life and events, with which 



374 



APPENDIX 



the women and children of the valley 
have been connected, as well as those 
in which men have borne a part. 
The editor of this work regrets that 
more detailed records are not avail- 
able concerning the women and their 
children. 

However, if the reader will look 
through the foregoing chapters, he will 
find much of interest and considerable 
detail regarding these matters, par- 
ticularly of the first two centuries after 
the entrance of the white man upon 
the shores of the Mohawk. The farm 
life, church scenes, sport, travel, house- 
hold work and details respecting the 
women and children of the valley have 
been given great attention. 

The American women of the Revo- 
lution played fully as heroic or even a 
more heroic part, in that great strug- 
gle, as the American men. The wo- 
men frequently did the hard work of 
the farms, as well as the household, 
after fathers, husbands and sons had 
left the homes to join the patriot 
armies. This was particularly true of 
the MolTawk valley and here, through- 
out seven years of the most horrible 
and savage border warfare, these wo- 
men frequently remained on their 
homesteads with their husbands and 
families. When the men were called 
out to do militia duty the women were 
more exposed to the dangers of this 
barbaric conflict than the men, for 
they were left behind alone and liable 
at any moment to be murdered by 
lurking Tories and Indians. It is 

remarkalile that any of the Mohawk . 
valley families remained on farms dis- 
tant from forts but there seem to 
have been many such instances. Fre- 
quently the women planted, tended and 
harvested the crops — a mighty task in 
the days when all farm labor was done 
by hand. When Daniel Olendorf and 
his wife were captured in the Minden 
raid of 1780, they were taken in his 
barn, where they were "mowing away" 
a load of hay. This is one incident of 
many showing that women did the 
hardest kind of farm work. 

Nothing could be more worthy 
than the erection of a suitable 
monument raised in some fitting place 



in the valley to the memory of the 
American Revolutionary frontiersmen 
of the Mohawk valley — men, women 
and children. It is time that the trials 
and heroism of the women of our lo- 
cality of that day be fittingly recog- 
nized, as well as the suffering, tragic 
endings, and frequent heroism of the 
little ones of the period — the Revolu- 
tionary boys and girls of the Mohawk 
valley. At the time of this writing 
(1914) an article is announced for pub- 
lication in the Herkimer Citizen deal- 
ing with Revolutionary women, their 
lives and heroism. This is a good 
move in the right direction in the por- 
trayal of a side of eighteenth century 
life that has been somewhat slighted 
by historical writers until recently. 
History should consider the population 
as a whole, without regard to sex or 
age. 

The word pictures of feminine life 
along the Mohawk, contained herein, 
are most absorbing, down through the 
years, from the December day in 1634, 
described by a Dutch explorer, when 
"three Indian women came from the 
Senecas peddling fish" to the Mohawk 
village of Canagere (near present Can- 
ajoharie). These Seneca ladies prove 
most interesting as showing (in these 
days of feminism) the early business 
activities of the fair sex along the 
Mohawk, and as suggesting that our 
river and neighboring waters always 
afforded poor fishing. Coming to a later 
evidence of woman's industrial activ- 
ity along the Mohawk, it is probable 
that the first professional cheese- 
maker in the valley was Mrs. Nathan 
Arnold, who settled in Fairfield, Her- 
kimer county, in 1785. 

Among the women of whom particu- 
lar mention has been made are the 
following: • Mrs. Guy Johnson, Mrs. 
Daniel Claus, both daughters of Sir 
William Johnson; Molly Brant, John- 
son's second wife; Mrs. Gardinier, wife 
of Capt. Gardinier of Oriskany fame; 
Mrs. Samuel Campbell, wife of Col. 
Samuel Campbell of Cherry Valley and 
colonel of the Canajoharie battalion of 
the Tryon County militia; Mrs. Samuel 
Clyde, wife of Col. Clyde, acting colo- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



375 



nel of the Canajoharie battalion in the 
later years of the war; Mrs. Gros, wife 
of Rev. Johan Daniel Gros, dominie of 
the Fort Plain (Sand Hill) Reformed 
Dutch church; many women of Minden 
who suffered during Brant's raid of 
1780, and several tragic and other in- 
cidents regarding the women of the 
valley, elsewhere. 

Among the Minden women who en- 
dured the horrors of Brant's raid were: 
Mrs. Miller of Freysbush, who was 
captured with a nursing infant, and 
who, by main force, many times pre- 
vented her weak and crying child from 
being tomahawked, during the long 
journey of the Minden captives to 
Canada; Mrs. Pletts, another young 
captive Freysbush mother, who was 
"treated with marked kindness" by the 
Indians on their arrival in Canada be- 
cause she was "a tidy woman" and 
kept her captors' household spick and 
span; Mrs. George Lintner, who saved 
her baby by hiding all night with it 
under a hollow tree in "the bush." 
When Mrs. Lintner and her infant 
were safely rejoined by the rest of her 
children and her husband next day she 
gazed upon the ruins of her burned 
homestead and said in German, "Now, 
although we have lost everything but 
the clothes we have on, I feel richer 
than I ever did before in all my life." 

Among the terrific tragic pictures, in 
which women figured in this region 
during the Revolution, were the dia- 
bolical scenes at Cherry Valley; Mrs. 
Knouts, found lying dead in her Freys- 
bush dooryard after the Minden raid 
with her three murdered children in 
her arms, all killed by Tory and In- 
dian fiends; Mrs. Dorenberger speared 
to death and scalped by her own Tory 
brother, while berrying along the banks 
of the West Canada creek. Such were 
the barbarous methods of warfare 
countenanced by British and Tory mil- 
itary authorities. 

The red and white savages, enlisted 
under the British Revolutionary colors, 
murdered women and children as well 
as the male and soldier population. 
The women and children showed as 
great (and sometimes even greater) 
courage as the men. 



During the entire Revolutionary war 
the Schoharie valley and the Mohawk 
from Amsterdam to Frankfort were 
exposed to the danger of massacre by 
Tories and Indians. It is very re- 
markable that about 4,000 settlers were 
still in this region at the end of hos- 
tilities in the valley in the spring of 
1783. 

In chapter III, series III., reference 
is made to the need of a satisfactory 
history of the Mohawk valley in the 
Civil war, and it is there suggested 
that our women of that time have their 
part in that struggle recorded — both 
as nurses and as homeworkers for the 
soldiers at the front. The editor of 
this work is not one who believes that 
valley history means merely Revolu- 
tionary affairs. The happenings of 
yesterday and of today are as much 
history as those of a century ago, so 
that our valley life during the Rebel- 
lion or in recent years should have its 
proper place in our valley records. 
Some stray thought in your neighbor's 
mind, some trifling occurrence in your 
community may be the tiny germ of 
some large event. Great things, like 
the telegraph and the steam engine 
doubtless originated in some wayward 
speculation in the mind of some seem- 
ingly obscure individual in some ob- 
scure locality. Let us not forget that 
"all the world's a stage." 

The schoolboys of today and mem- 
bers of the Boy Scouts will And in 
these pages, many instances of the 
heroism and exciting adventures of the 
boys of long ago. The boy of today 
will read with interest how Francis 
Putman, a fifteen-year-old lad, cap- 
tured Lieut. Hare, a most bloodthirsty 
Tory, who was subsequently hung by 
General Clinton on Academy Hill in 
Canajoharie; how Jacob Dievendorf, a 
lad of ten, was captured at Currytown, 
scalped after the battle of Sharon, re- 
covered and lived almost eighty years 
afterward; how John Gremps, a fif- 
teen-year-old soldier of Palatine, 
fought with his elders at Oriskany 
(probably like a number of others but 
little older) and came unhurt from the 
battlefield; how the boys of Minden 
were killed, captured and escaped 



376 



APPENDIX 



from the savages during Brant's Min- 
den raid of 1780; and lastly, to lend a 
humorous touch to these bloody rec- 
ords, we have the good story of the 
Nelliston boy who was the first to 
greet Atwood, the aviator, when he 
alighted there on his St. Louis to New 
York trip in 1911. When asked by At- 
wood where he had landed, the lad re- 
plied: "In the Nellis pasture," an 
answer that should go down into his- 
tory as a bit of geographical informa- 
tion to an airman who had slidden 
down out of the clouds after a hun- 
dred-mile flight. 

Probably among the incidents of 
Washington's valley trip in 1783, which 
pleased him was that of the company 
of Fort Plain schoolboys who, lined up 
along the road by the good wife of 
Dominie Gros, gave the General a 
rousing cheer as he rode up the hill to 
the fort; also at Cherry Valley where 
he saw and talked with the boys of the 
heroic Mrs. Campbell, all of whom had 
been captives of the Indians in Canada 
or at Niagara. 

Concerning the little girls of the. 
Revolution we also know considerable. 
Simms has preserved for us many in- 
teresting details of them during the 
Minden raid of 1780, those details 
which give us such an insight, not only 
into the horrors but into the life of the 
Revolution. We also have the dra- 
matic incident of the captive ten- 
year-old Magadelena Martin, who rode 
on a horse behind the fiendish Walter 
Butler, on a cold October night of 
1780 (when Johnson made his great 
raid up the valley), and who warmed 
her cold little hands in Butler's fur- 
lined pockets. 

One of the most pathetic incidents 
of the Revolution in the valley was the 
return of Capt. Veeder and his com- 
pany from the battlefield of Sharon, 
tenderly bearing on litters back to Fort 
Plain, two poor littJe children — a boy 
and a girl — scalped by the fiends whom 
Willett's men drove from the field. 
Fate deals queer cards, for Jacob Diev- 
endorf, the boy, lived for seventy-nine 
j'ears after that dreadful day, while 
the little girl, Mary Miller, passed away 
in the arms of a soldier who was giv- 



ing her a drink from his canteen as the 
party neared Fort Plain. 

When we consider the rage that must 
have filled the valley's fighting men at 
these many diabolical deeds done by 
the enemy, we are filled with wonder 
that they never made a single re- 
prisal in revenge on the wives and 
children of Tories who lingered in the 
valley throughout the war. Truly our 
American fighting men of the Revolu- 
tion were as high types of civilization 
as the world has seen before or since. 

To offset these tragic stories we have 
more amusing and entertaining details 
such as the old-fashioned picture of 
little seven-year-old Anne McVicar 
(who later wrote the famous "Memoirs 
of An American Lady") sitting all day 
in a Mohawk river batteaux, propelled 
slowly upstreaip by the red-coated 
British soldiers of her father's com- 
pany; also her visit to King Hen- 
drick's son at Indian Castle, when 
"the monarch smiled, clapped my head 
and ordered me a little basket, very 
pretty and filled by his son with dried 
berries." 

Campfire Girls take notice of the fol- 
lowing: 

Among the many dramatic incidents 
of Brant's raid about Fort Plain in 
1780, are those concerning the young 
Bettinger, Strobeck and Sitts girls, 
who were captured and taken to Can- 
ada, where they liked life among the 
Indians so well that they refused to re- 
turn and remained north and married 
red husbands (such instances were not 
uncommon in our early history) ; the 
five-year-old Sophia Sitts (who was 
taken in Brant's Minden raid but re- 
leased by her squaw captor because the 
little girl was too much of a burden to 
carry pickaback) who became one of 
the best harvest hands of her section 
(in a day when women worked with 
men on the farm) and who lived to the 
great age of 108; and lastly, the little 
five-year-old girl, Evan Myers, who 
was made a prisoner the same day and 
thought her life was spared, because, 
unlike her little brothers (who were 
killed), when she was captured, as she 
subsequently told it, "I did not cry." 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



377 



Appleton's Encyclopedia says that, 
of the 231,000 Continental or regular 
American troops engaged in the Revo- 
lution, New York state furnished 17,- 
800. New York in the Revolution 
gives the number of New York state 
Revolutionary militia 51,972, the latter 
being the correct figure. 



SERIES II. 



CHAPTER I. 
1784 — First Permanent Settlement of 
Oneida County — New England Im- 
migration. 

In 1784 the first permanent white set- 
tlement was made in Oneida county. 
Johannes Roof settled at Fort Stan- 
wix about 1760, a few years after the 
construction of that advanced outpost. 
On St. Leger's approach in 1777, Roof 
was forced to abandon his farm and 
moved down the valley to the General 
Herkimer place. Later he settled at 
Canajoharie where he kept tavern 
when General Clinton was there in 
1779 and during General Washington's 
visit in 1783. In 1784 the first consid- 
erable settlement was made in Oneida 
county at Whitestown. Utica and 
Rome were permanently settled a few 
years later. When Elkanah Watson 
made his first Mohawk river journey in 
1788 the river section of Oneida county 
was practically a "howling" wilderness 
with the exception of a few settlements 
and clearings. The "howling" was ac- 
tual as the wolves made sleep almost 
impossible with their night howling. 
Utica took on its first importance as 
being located at a river ford and when 
a -bridge was built here and a road 
opened westward to "the Indian coun- 
try" its future was assured. Then as 
now it became the hub of a series of 
roads (and later railroads) running 
north, east, south and west. Rome 
grew up on the site of Fort Schuyler 
(first called Fort Stanwix) and was 
important as being located at the carry 
from the Mohawk into Wood creek. 
Oneida county is about the size of the 
state of Rhode Island and its first set- 
tlers, after the Revolution, were large- 
ly from New England, These "Yan- 



kees" also settled largely in Herkimer 
and Fulton counties at points more or 
less distant from the Mohawk, as these 
river lands were already occupied. 
Montgomery, Schoharie and Schenec- 
tady received less of this immigration. 
Utica, Rome and Oneida county grew 
rapidly in population, trade, agricul- 
ture and industry, after 1800, and 
Oneida soon became the most populous 
of the six Mohawk valley counties. 
Today (1914) over a third of the popu- 
lation of the Mohawk valley is located 
in Oneida county, and the latter forms 
a very important link in the industrial 
chain extending from Cohoes to Rome, 
along the banks of the Mohawk. Onei- 
da is also the most important agri- 
culturally of the six Mohawk valley 
counties. 



CHAPTER VI. 
Elkanah Watson's Mohawk River Trips 

of 1788 and 1791— His Views on and 

Efforts for Improved Mohawk River 

Navigation. 

Elkanah Watson was a wide trav- 
eler and "gentleman of leisure" 
of Providence, R. I. Watson was 
greatly interested in canals, a subject 
which was generally discussed in the 
latter eighteenth century, and he had 
observed many of the old world arti- 
ficial waterways. About 1788, while 
traveling in the Mohawk valley he 
took note of the commercial possibili- 
ties of that stream, as many public- 
spirited men had before him, and soon 
he began to propose, through the 
press, its improvement. In Septem- 
ber, 1791, a party, piloted by Mr. Wat- 
son, covered the line of the improved 
waterway he had advocated. It con- 
sisted of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, 
Gen. P. Van Cortland, Stephen N. Bay- 
ard and Watson. They left Albany 
and went to Schenectady, where they 
hired two batteaux, engaged six men 
and laid in a stock of provisions to 
last six weeks. The flatboats went up 
the river to Fort Herkimer where they 
were joined by the four principals 
who went thence by land. The whole 
party went to Fort Stanwix by river, 
where the two mile carry was made 



378 



APPENDIX 



into Wood creek. The bargemen took 
the two batteaux through this water- 
way to Oneida lake, a very difficult 
and obstructed piece of navigation, 
used however by the Mohawk river 
boats of the time. The investigating 
party proceeded through Oneida lake 
into Oswego river and investigated 
Seneca river, Onondaga, Seneca and 
Cayuga lakes. They satisfied them- 
selves of the feasibility of the improve- 
ments proposed by Watson. They se- 
cured the influential assistance of Gen. 
Philip Schuyler and in 1792 the Inland 
Lock Navigation Co. was organized 
with Gen. Schuyler as president. In 
the face of great difl^culties the im- 
provement of the Mohawk river was 
carried through and completed from 
Oneida lake to Schenectady, in 1796. 
This included a canal and five locks 
at Little Falls with a 441/2 ft. lift. The 
canal was 4,752 feet long and 2,550 
feet of this was through solid rock. 
At Wolf's Rift, below Ft. Herkimer, 
was a canal 1% miles long with three 
locks. At Rome a canal 1% miles long 
connected the Mohawk with Wood 
creek on which there were four locks. 
See Chapter VI., Series 11. 

The labors of Elkanah Watson 
make him as much the "father" of 
New York state inland navigation as 
anyone, his being the first practical 
efforts for state waterway improve- 
ment. Watson was born in Massa- 
chusetts in 1758 and died at Port Kent, 
Lake Champlain, 1842, aged 84 years. 

Watson kept a diary of his journeys 
through the Mohawk valley in 1788 
and in 1791. In 1856 Mr. W. C. Wat- 
son published a memoir of his father, 
Elkanah Watson, under the title 
"Men and Times of the Revolution, or 
Memoirs of Elkanah Watson." This 
contained summaries or verbatim ex- 
tracts from journals of the elder Wat- 
son's interesting travels. In 1788, El- 
kanah Watson visited Hudson, Albany, 
Schenectady and Johnstown, and at 
the latter place learned of the great 
Indian council shortly to occur at Fort 
Schuyler, or Stanwix as it was still 
generally called. He resolved to at- 
tend it and proceeded from Johns- 
town, northward. 



His memoirs contain the following 
concerning this, his first valley trip of 
1788: 

"The country between Schenectady 
and Johnstown was well settled by a 
Dutch population, generally in a pros- 
perous condition." The Watson me- 
moirs further say: 

From Johnson Hall, he proceeded up 
the Mohawk, through a rich region, 
under high cultivation and adorned 
by luxuriant clover pastures. This 
lovely valley was almost on a level 
with the river and was bounded on the 
north by a lofty range of hills, whose 
cliffs at times seemed impending over 
him. The fields were only separated 
by gates, with no fences on the road- 
sides. The beauty of the country, the 
majestic appearance of the adjacent 
mountains, the state of advanced ag- 
riculture, exhibited in a long succes- 
sion of excellent farms, and the rich 
fragrancy of the air, redolent with the 
perfume of the clover, all combined to 
present a scene he was not prepared 
to witness on the banks of the Mo- 
hawk. 

The territory, known as the German 
Flats, had been long inhabited and 
was densely occupied by a German 
population. This people had suffered 
severely during the War of Independ- 
ence, from the ravages of the Tories 
and Indians and had been nearly ex- 
tirpated. Their safety was only se- 
cured by the erection of numerous 
block houses, which were constructed 
in commanding positions, and often 
mounted with cannon. Many of these 
structures were yet standing, and were 
seen in every direction. 

On this trip, Watson suffered from 
hunger, on account of the scarcity of 
taverns, in the upper valley. He 
stopped at Whitesboro, then a consid- 
erable settlement of log houses. At 
Oriskany he passed several hundred 
Indians and visited the battlefield, pi- 
loted by two German settlers, and saw 
the ground strewn with human bones. 
Beyond Oriskany he rode alone 
through a band of drunken, half-naked 
Indians, who danced, whooping and 
yelling, about him. He finally reached 
Fort Stanwix and found "the whole 
plain around the fort covered with In- 
dians of various tribes, male and fe- 
male. Many of the latter were fan- 
tastically dressed in their best attire — 
in the richest silks, fine scarlet clothes 
bordered with gold fringe, a profusion 
of brooches, rings in their noses, their 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



379 



ears slit, and their heads decorated 
with feathers. Among them I noticed 
some very handsome countenances and 
fine figures." 

Watson secured quarters in the gar- 
ret of the dwelling where Gov. Clinton 
and the eight New York Commission- 
ers were housed, and attended all the 
doings at this celebrated Indian coun- 
cil, in which the red men were forced 
to give up their title to their lands in 
New York state and farther west — 
about 4,000,000 acres. While here 
Watson examined the carry into Wood 
Creek, and started on a western water- 
way voyage but was turned back by a 
heavy rain. 

Of his return trip down the Mohawk, 
Watson says in part: "My curiosity 
satisfied, I sent my horse towards Al- 
bany and embarked on board a return- 
ing bateau, and proceeded down the 
Mohawk to Little Falls, anxious to ex- 
amine that place with an eye to canals. 
We abandoned ourselves to the cur- 
rent of the river, which, with the aid 
of our oars, impelled us at a rapid 
rate. We met numerous bateaux com- 
ing up the river, freighted with whole 
families, emigrating to the 'land of 
promise.' I was surprised to observe 
the dexterity with which they manage 
their boats, and the progress they 
make in poling up the river, against a 
current of at least three miles an hour. 
The first night we encamped at a log 
hut on the banks of the river and the 
next morning I disembarked at Ger- 
man Flats." From here he returned 
to Albany. 

Watson's journal, of the Mohawk 
river investigating committee of 1791, 
is intensely interesting to Mohawk 
valley people as it describes pioneer 
conditions along the Mohawk. His re- 
marks in regard to the "Mohawk 
Dutch" (for this term included both 
the High and Low Dutch) must be 
considered in the light of the fact that 
he was a cultured New Englander, that 
he was considering a different race 
whose very rude strength had aided in 
their partial conquest of the wilder- 
ness, and also that his enthusiasm for 
the "rudiments of literature" was not 
shared by a people who were schooled 



only in the rudiments of frontier life 
and had no time for anything else. 
While a majority of the valley people 
of 1791 were crude, rough and unlet- 
tered they also possessed many sterl- 
ing qualities. There were also among 
them men of education, keen percep- 
tions, and strong, solid intellectual 
powers. Watson came through west- 
ern Montgomery county by way 
of Johnstown, through Stone Arabia to 
Caroga creek and thence up the val- 
ley. He was an observer of wide ex- 
perience and his picture of frontier 
life on the Mohawk river in 1791 is 
perhaps the most valuable in exist- 
ence, as it showed conditions as they 
generally existed here throughout the 
eighteenth century. It is to be re- 
gretted that his journal of his travels 
up and down the valley cannot be 
given verbatim. His entries are largely 
summarized by his son. Wherever his 
journal has reference to the Mohawk 
valley it is here reprinted (from the 
Memoirs of 1856) in full. The first 
verbatim entry, of the 1791 journey, 
was evidently written at Palatine 
Church, Sept. 4, 1791. The following 
are verbatim extracts: 

1791, Sept. 4 — We proceeded on our 
journey with a miserably covered 
wagon, and in a constant rain, until 
night, which brought us to Major 
Schuyler's mills in Palatine [on Caroga 
creek at Palatine Church], settled by 
the descendants of German emigrants, 
intermingling on all sides with the en- 
terprising Sons of the East [New Eng- 
landers] between whom mutual preju- 
dices ran high. These feelings will 
gradually be overcome by intermar- 
riages and other modes of intercourse. 
Thus far the German and Dutch far- 
mers have been, in a manner, totally 
remiss in cultivating the first rudi- 
ments of literature, while the descend- 
ants of the English in New England 
have cherished it as a primary duty. 
Hence the characteristics of each peo- 
ple are distinctly variant. * * * * 
I have noticed with pleasure that the 
German farmers begin to use oxen in 
agriculture instead of horses. For this 
salutary improvement they are in- 
debted to the New England men. 

I am induced to believe, should the 
Western canals ever be made, and the 
Mohawk River become, in one sense, a 
continuation of the Hudson River by 
means of canals and locks, that it will 
most clearly obviate the necessity of 
sending produce to market in winter 



380 



APPENDIX 



by sleighs [then the general custom, 
the farmers going to Albany in winter 
with the surplus products they had for 
sale]. On the contrary, it would be 
stored on the margin of the Mohawk 
in winter, and be sent, in the summer 
months, by batteaux, to be unloaded 
aboard vessels in the Hudson. 

The bottoms or lowlands along the 
Mohawk are laid off into rich inclo- 
sures, highly cultivated; principally by 
industrious Germans. Narrow roads 
and contracted bridges still exist. 

On the south side of the river the 
country is thicker settled and many 
pleasant situations, old farms, and 
wealthy farmers appear, but these evi- 
dently are far behind those of Germany 
or England in the profitable science of 
agriculture. We crossed a new wooden 
bridge [over the Caroga creek] near 
Schuyler's Mills, 75 feet long, with a 
single arch supported by framed work 
above. I was glad to notice this an 
enterprising wedge to more extended 
improvements. 

[1791] Sept. 7. — This morning we as- 
cended Fall Hill, over a craggy road of 
one mile. From its summit we com- 
manded an extensive and picturesque 
view of the surrounding country in the 
north, partly settled, but generally in 
nature's original brown livery, spotted 
here and there by an opening. We 
left Little Falls on our right and de- 
scended into the rich settlement of 
German Flats. At Eldridges tavern, 
near Fort Herkimer, we overtook our 
batteau, all well and embarked the 
same evening, stemming fourteen miles 
against a strong current, with an 
awning spread over our heads. Each 
boat was manned by three men, two 
in the bow and one in the stern to 
steer. They occasionally rowed in 
still water, setting, with short poles at 
the rapids, with surprising dexterity. 
In this mode their average progress is 
three miles an hour, equal to truck- 
shute travelling in Holland; but it is 
exceedingly laborious and fatiguing to 
the men. At night we encamped in a 
log hut on the margin of the river. 

[1791] Sept. 8— A pleasant sail of 
ten miles this fine morning brought us 
to Old Fort Schuyler. Here we were 
.ioined by Gen. Van Cortland and Mr. 
Bayard, who were waiting for us, 
which completes our number to thir- 
teen. 

Prom Little Falls, thus far, the river 
is nearly competent to inland naviga- 
tion, with the exception of a serious 
rapid and a great bend at the German 
Flats, called Wolf-riff, which must be 
subdued, either liy a cut across the 
neck of land, upward of one mile, or 
by removing the obstructions. 

An Indian road being opened from 
this place [later Utica] to the Gene- 
see country, it is probable that the po- 
sition of Fort Stanwix and this spot 



will become rivals as the site of a 
town, in connection with the interior, 
when it shall have become a settled 
country. If, however, the canals 
should be constructed, I think Fort 
Stanwix will take the lead at a future 
day. Such was my impression when 
here in 1788. Since then only a few 
houses and stores have been erected 
here, also a tolerable tavern to admin- 
ister comfort to the weary traveler, 
which I experienced the want of three 
years past. 

In the afternoon we progressed thir- 
teen miles, meeting many obstructions 
in consequence of the cruel conduct 
of the new settlers, who are wonder- 
fully increased since I was here [three 
years before], filling the river with 
fallen trees cut on its margin, narrow- 
ing it in many places, producing shoals 
where the deepest waters had been ac- 
customed to flow, and impeding the 
progress of our boats. We pitched our 
Camp on the right hand bank of the 
river in the midst of woods. We soon 
had a roaring fire and our tents pitched 
— open on one side to the fire and 
closed at each end with canvas. We 
found an excellent substitute for 
feathers, laying our buffaloes on hem- 
lock twigs; although the ground was 
moist we were effectually protected 
from any inconvenience. We enjoyed 
a pleasant night, with ten times more 
comfort than we could in the miser- 
able log huts along the banks of the 
river. 

[1791] Sept. 9. — At noon we reached 
Fort Stanwix, to which place, with 
some aid of art, the river continues 
adapted to inland navigation for boats 
of five tons burthen. Emigrants are 
swarming into these fertile regions in 
shoals, like the ancient Israelites seek- 
ing the land of promise. 

We transported our boats and bag- 
gage across the carrying place, a dis- 
tance of two miles, over a dead flat 
and launched into Wood Creek, run- 
ning west. It is a mere brook at this 
place, which a man can easily jump 
across. 

In contemplating this important 
creek as the only water communica- 
tion with the immense regions in the 
West, which are destined to bless mil- 
lions of freemen in the approaching 
century, I am deeply impressed with 
a belief, considering the great re- 
sources of this State, that the im- 
provement of our internal navigation 
cannot much longer escape the atten- 
tion of our law-makers, and more es- 
pecially as it is obviously practicable. 
When effected, it will open an unin- 
terrupted water communication from 
the immense fertile regions in the 
West to the Atlantic. 

Sept. 10, 1791, Watson and party be- 
gan to descend Wood creek, to Oneida 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



381 



lake, a most tortuous stream and dif- 
ficult piece of navigation, so narrow 
that the bow and stern of a batteau 
scraped opposite banks in making the 
turns, obstructed by logs in the stream 
and crossed by boughs and limbs so 
closely overhead that in some places 
it obliged "all hands to lie flat." 

On Sept. 12 they reached the Royal 
block-house at the east end of Oneida 
lake. Sept. 13 they "wrote home by a 
boat coming from the west loaded with 
hemp, raised at the south end of Cay- 
uga lake." Sept. 14 they came to Fort 
Brewerton at the entrance to the pres- 
ent Oneida river, after sailing down 
Oneida lake, which evoked the warm- 
est admiration from Mr. Watson, al- 
though he found it "extremely turbu- 
lent and dangerous." 

Watson's journal is replete with sur- 
mises and prophecies on the future of 
United States internal waterway navi- 
gation, much of which has come to 
pass. The influence of what one in- 
telligent, energetic man, with imagi- 
nation and a working control of his 
specialty, can achieve is seen in the 
improved Mohawk river which Wat- 
son's efforts brought about, and which, 
in itself led up to the Erie and the 
Barge canal. All honor to Elkanah 
Watson! 



CHAPTER VII. 
1800 (About)— The Mohawk and Al- 
bany Pikes — Toll Gates. 

Rufus A. Grider's paper on "The Mo- 
hawk Turnpike," says that the Great 
Western turnpike started from Al- 
bany and ran, by way of Carlisle, 
Cherry Valley, Otsego, Chenango, 
Owego, Dannsville, Aurora, to Buffalo. 

In 1790 the first mail stage west of 
Schenectady ran from Albany to 
Schenectady, Johnstown and Canajo- 
harie each week. The fare was three 
cents per mile. In 1792 the route was 
extended to Fort Plain, Old Fort 
Schuyler (now Utica) and Whites- 
town, every two weeks. In 1794 the 
line was further extended to Geneva 
and Canandaigua. Stage fares of this 
period, generally averaged about four 
cents a mile. 



The Mohawk and Hudson turnpik* 
(chartered in 1797) from Albany to 
Schenectady was a fine macadamized 
road lined with poplars. The Mohawk 
turnpike (chartered 1800) was of 
broken stone, sixty feet wide, with a 
center raised eighteen inches above 
the sides. There were twelve toll gates 
on this pike, four of them being lo- 
cated in western Montgomery county. 
Mr. Grider gives their location as fol- 
lows: 

1. Schenectady. 

2. Cranesville. 

3. Caughnawaga (now Fonda). 

4. Schenck's Hollow (near the north 
side Nose, now the Montgomery coun- 
ty home). 

5. Junction of Wagner's Hollow 
road in Palatine (a short distance 
east). 

6. Caroga creek (short distance 
east). 

7. St. Johnsville (lower end). 

8. East Creek bridge (west end). 

9. Fink's Ferry (at Fall Hill). 

10. West Canada Creek (Herkimer). 

11. Sterling (six miles east of Utica). 

12. Utica (formerly Old Fort Schuy- 
ler). 

In 1811 a fast line ran, day and 
night, from Albany to Buffalo, in three 
days. The horses were trotted al- 
most continuously and were changed 
every nine to twelve miles. Four 
coaches were sent east and four 
coaches west by this line daily. 



Over 200 automobiles were counted 
in one hour passing westward through 
the village of Nelliston on a summer 
Sunday afternoon in 1914 over the Mo- 
hawk turnpike. 



"Everyman's Literary and Historical 
Atlas of North and South America" 
gives an interesting map of the early 
highways of the United States from 
east to west. The principal ones noted 
are the Iroquois trail and Genesee road 
(the Mohawk turnpike and Genesee 
road from Albany to Buffalo with an 
extension to Boston) ; the Philadelphia 
to Pittsburg turnpike; the Washington 
to Cumberland to Wheeling road (later 
extended to Indianapolis and St. 
Louis) ; the Richmond to Cumberland 
Gap to Louisville road. Of these the 
"Iroquois trail" was the principal one 



382 



APPENDIX 



and the only one (as it is today) which 
afforded practically continuous water 
communication (as well as land com- 
munication) with the Great Lakes 
region. The Iroquois trail also extended 
eastward from the junction of the 
Hoosac river with the Hudson to Mas- 
sachusetts bay. This was also called 
the Mohawk trail. 



CHAPTER XI. 
1914— Mohawk Valley Railroads- 
Railroad Development. 

There are coal pockets on the New 
York Central's Mohawk division at St. 
Johnsville and coal pockets were es- 
tablished on the West Shore at Indian 
Castle in 1913. The West Shore di- 
vision of the New York Central has a 
foundry located at Frankfort. Schen- 
ectady, Fonda, Herkimer, Utica and 
Rome are important railroad centers 
in the Mohawk valley. 

In 1914 the invention was announced 
of an electrically propelled railroad 
system capable of a speed of 300 miles 
an hour. 

The following is of interest as mark- 
ing a stage in the development of rail- 
road freight transportation in the Mo- 
hawk valley: 

The longest freight train that ever 
ran over the New York Central rail- 
road passed through the Mohawk val- 
ley, Monday morning, May 18, 1914. 
The train was composed of 125 cars 
some of which were loaded, while 
others were empty. One engine hauled 
them. 

The train was known as a "test 
train." For some time past, the N. Y. 
C. has been trying to determine how 
many cars an engine would haul, and 
it was believed that the limit was 125. 
The trial May 18 appeared to be suc- 
cessful as the big load rode easily. 

The 125 cars made a train about one 
mile in length. Each car will average 
40 feet in length or a total of 5,000 
feet. Neither caboose nor engine were 
included in the 125 cars and these are 
about one hundred feet in length, or 
making an estimated total length of 
the train as over 5.100 feet. If loaded 
to capacity, the train carried about 



3,750 tons or a little more than two 
tandem canal barges are expected to 
haul. 

In 1914 an Erie railroad freight lo- 
comotive drew 250 loaded freight cars. 

It may fittingly here be remarked 
that the American railroads are in a 
critical condition at the time of the 
issuance of this work, 1914. Increased 
operating expenses and frequently past 
financial irregularities have made it 
barely possible for the roads to earn 
expenses. Increased rates and better 
financial methods will doubtless bring 
future improvement. 



SERIES III. 



CHAPTER I. 
Mohawk Valley Governors, Yates 
1823-5; Bouck, 1843-5; Seymour, 
1853-5, 1863-5— Vice President Sher- 
man, 1908-12. 

The Hudson valley, of which the 
Mohawk forms a part, has given two 
presidents to the United States — Van 
Buren and Roosevelt. The Mohawk 
valley has furnished three governors 
to New York state — ^Yates of Schenec- 
tady, Bouck of Schoharie and Seymour 
of Oneida — and one presidential candi- 
date, Seymour, who ran as a Demo- 
crat against Grant, Republican, in 
1868, and one vice president, Sherman 
of Oneida. 

Governor Joseph C. Yates was born 
in Schenectady in 1768. He was a 
founder of Union college, the first 
mayor of Schenectady after it was 
made a city in 1798 and governor of 
New York, 1823-25. He died in 1837. 
Yates county was named for him. 

William C. Bouck was the second 
governor of New York state from the 
Mohawk valley. He was born at Ful- 
ton, Schoharie county, in 1786. He was 
a lawyer, member of assembly, 1814-15- 
17, and a state senator in 1819. He 
was colonel of the 18th N. Y. infan- 
try, a member of the state canal board 
and a superintendent of a section of 
the Erie canal under construction, 
1817-25. He was canal commissioner 
for 19 years. In 1840 he was the un- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



383 



successful Democratic candidate for 
governor and in 1842 he was elected. 
He was a member of the constitutional 
convention of 1846 and treasurer of 
New York customs, 1846-9, after which 
he resumed the occupation of a farmer. 
He died in 1859, aged 73 years. Bouck's 
Falls, in Schoharie county, was named 
for his family by the historian Simms. 

Horatio Seymour was born at Pom- 
pey, Onondaga county, in 1810. In 
childhood his family removed to 
Utica, Oneida county, where Mr. Sey- 
mour made his home for the rest of 
his life. He became a lawyer in 1832, 
although he did not actively practise 
as he was engaged principally in the 
management of a large estate inherited 
from his father. Seymour was elected 
as a Democrat to the New York state 
assembly in 1841 and for three suc- 
ceeding terms, being speaker in 1845. 
He was mayor of Utica in 1842 and an 
unsuccessful Democratic candidate for 
governor in 1850. He was elected gov- 
ernor in 1853, serving till 1855. In 1862 
he was again elected and became one 
of the famous "war governors," heart- 
ily supporting the union. He was de- 
feated for re-election in 1864. In 1868, 
against his wishes, Seymour was nom- 
inated for the presidency by the Dem- 
ocratic party and was defeated by U. 
S. Grant, who received 214 electoral 
votes to Seymour's 80. He died at 
Utica in 1886, aged 75 years. Governor 
Seymour was a learned and entertain- 
ing writer on Mohawk valley history 
and an eloquent orator. He frequently 
spoke at valley patriotic gatherings 
and his addresses at such times are 
local historical classics. Seymour in- 
spired Frederic to the writing of "In 
the Valley." 

The Mohawk valley has furnished 
one vice president to the United States 
— James S. Sherman of Utica, Oneida 
county. Mr. Sherman was born in 
Utica in 1855 and died there in 1912, 
aged 57 years. He served as congress- 
man from the Oneida district for a 
number of years and was nominated 
on the Republican presidential ticket 
of 1908 and elected with William H. 
Taft, the nominee for president. He 
was renominated with Taft on the Re- 



publican ticket of 1912, but died before 
the election. 

The Hudson valley, of which the 
Mohawk forms a part, furnished the 
following vice presidents to the United 
States: George Clinton, qualified 1805; 
Martin Van Buren, qualified 1833; 
Schuyler Colfax, qualified 1869; Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, qualified 1901; James 
S. Sherman, qualified 1909. Of these 
five, Van Buren and Roosevelt subse- 
quently became presidents. Eight of 
the twenty-eight vice presidents came 
from New York state and four presi- 
dents, of the twenty-seven who have 
served from Washington in 1789 to 
Wilson in 1914. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Prospective Barge Canal Commerce. 

The 1910 tonnage of two of the great 
canals of . the world is given in this 
chapter as follows: Sault Ste. Marie 
(connecting Lakes Huron and Super- 
ior), 36,395,687; Suez, 23,054,901. Their 
1912 tonnage, according to the N. Y. 
World almanac, was Sault Ste. Marie. 
72,472,676; Suez, 20,125,120. The 1913 
tonnage of vessels engaged in traffic 
on the Great Lakes was 2,949,924, al- 
most double that of 1900. The com- 
merce of our inland seas is growing at 
such a rate that even the foregoing 
figures will doubtless be surpassed in 
a few years. This "Soo" canal car- 
ries only part of this traffic as that of 
Lake Michigan does not pass through 
it. Its commerce is almost four times 
that of Suez. It is reasonable to sup- 
pose that a very large part of the 
Great Lakes traffic will find an outlet 
through the Barge canal, and that its 
tonnage will exceed that of Suez and 
of Panama. It is human nature to be 
fascinated by fireworks rather than 
solid achievement and so we see the 
Panama canal, with its picturesque and 
romantic features, receive the widest 
publicity in the American press while 
the Barge canal, fully as great and 
interesting a work, is practically ig- 
nored. We all remember the proverb 
of a prophet being honored save in 
his own country and, if a canal very 
similar to the Panama canal was be- 



384 



APPENDIX 



ing constructed in our populous east- 
ern states, it would probably get as 
little public attention as the Barge 
canal receives. The latter work also 
suffers from the fact that the more 
spectacular Panama canal is being 
built at the same time as our big state 
waterway. 

The Barge canal in the Mohawk val- 
ley is practically the Mohawk river. So, 
indeed, was the Erie canal which was 
virtually a side stream of the Mohawk, 
as the latter furnished most of the 
water for that artificial river. 

A ship canal has been several times 
proposed from Waterford on the Hud- 
son to Oswego on Lake Ontario, 
by way of the Mohawk, Oneida lake, 
Oneida river and Oswego river. Its 
length would be about 170 miles, 110 
of which would be through the Mo- 
hawk valley, from Waterford to Rome. 

The Barge Canal Bulletin, Series VI., 
1913 (December, 1913), published a very 
interesting map with regard to the 
Barge canal. This showed that, within 
two miles of the Barge canal and its 
natural extensions, the Hudson river 
and Lake Champlain, there lived 73% 
per cent of the population of the state, 
within five miles of these waterways 
lived 77 per cent of New York's popu- 
lation, and within twenty miles, 87 
per cent of the state's people. This 
twenty-mile strip constituted 46 per 
cent of New York state's territory. 

Fully 80 per cent, or about 400,000 of 
the probable 1915 population of 500,000 
in the Mohawk valley and the six Mo- 
hawk valley counties, is located within 
5 miles of the Barge canal. 

Barge canal types of boats are not 
(1914) definitely decided upon, accord- 
ing to the Barge Canal Bulletin. They 
may be of from 3,000 tons downward, 
the idea being for one motor engine or 
power boat to draw about 3,000 tons 
through the locks without breaking up 
the boats. Barges of 1,500 tons, to run 
tandem, or of about 800 tons each, to 
run in quadruplets (one to be a power 
boat) are probable types. The lockage 
capacity of the Barge canal will be 
about six times that of the old Erie. 
This is sufficient for present needs; 
time alone will show whether it will 



take care of the east-west waterway 
commerce of the future. 

The year of the publication of this 
work (1914) marks an era of the prac- 
tical finishing of three great American 
canal projects. In July, 1914, the Cape 
Cod canal, giving inside water route 
communication between New York 
and Boston was opened. The Panama 
canal, early in 1914, passed boats on 
trial trips and the New York State 
Barge canal was largely completed 
and the expectations were that it 
would be open for traffic in 1915. 



Forty of the sixty-two counties of 
New York state directly abut upon 
or are crossed by the Barge canal of 
New York state. These forty coun- 
ties had a population combined of 
7,911,000 (in 1910) as compared with 
the 1910 New York state population of 
9,113,000 and a U. S. population of 92,- 
000,000. Seven counties of New Jer- 
sey border the Hudson river section of 
the Barge canal or are located on its 
immediate terminal waters, thus mak- 
ing forty-seven counties of the two 
states which are directly served by 
this great waterway. It is well to ob- 
serve how largely this important 
world canal serves the great majority 
of the New York state territory and 
its population, a matter which is fre- 
quently overlooked by many in consid- 
ering canal questions. 

The forty New York state Barge 
canal counties as before stated, have 
a population of 7,911,000, while the 
seven New Jersey Barge canal coun- 
ties have a population of 1,753,000, 
making a combined New York-New 
Jersey population served by the Barge 
canal of 9,644,000 (in 1910). 

To the New York state territory 
open to the commerce of the canal can 
very properly be added the counties of 
Chautauqua, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, 
Nassau and Suffolk, which reach the 
Barge canal through navigable adja- 
cent waters on Lake Erie, Lake On- 
tario, St. Lawrence river and Long 
Island Sound. Including these coun- 
ties would give forty- five New York 
state Barge canal counties out of a 
total of sixty-two, or about 80 per 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



385 



cent of the state's territory accessible 
to the canal. These forty-flve New 
York state Barge canal counties have 
a combined population of 8,413,000 out 
of a New York state population of 
9,113,000. Including the seven New 
Jersey Barge canal counties, the fifty- 
two New York-New Jersey Barge 
canal counties had a total population 
of 10,166,000 in 1910. 

The entire New York state popula- 
tion of the forty-flve Barge canal 
counties can safely be estimated in 
1915 as about 9,400,000. Estimating 
the 1915 population of the five New 
Jersey Barge canal counties at 2,000,- 
000, would give a combined population 
of the fifty-two New York-New Jer- 
sey Barge canal counties of 11,400,000 
for the year of the canal's opening 
(1915). The most important sec- 
tions, commercially and industrially of 
New York and New Jersey are served 
by the new waterway. Extensions of 
the canal are projected which would 
add three more counties to the canal 
territory — Chemung, Tioga, Broome. 
Steuben and Lewis could be added to 
this list by possible extensions, mak- 
ing forty-eight New York state coun- 
ties which would be within the Barge 
canal territory. Of course a much 
greater territory of the United States 
and Canada is covered by this New 
York state waterway and over half of 
the United States and a population of 
75,000,000 or more will directly or in- 
directly be accessible to the transpor- 
tation advantages of this great water 
freight route. Persons interested in 
the ramifications of this canal should 
send to the oflfice of the State Engi- 
neer and Surveyor, Albany, New York, 
for the small canal map of the state of 
New York. Of course the entire At- 
lantic sea coast and its navigable rivers 
are open to the commerce of the Barge 
canal barges. 

Twenty miles of the left bank of the 
lower Hudson lies in New Jersey, also 
the western and southern shore lines 
of upper and lower New York bay. It 
is the desire of this work to show the 
natural geographical, industrial, com- 
mercial and social American divisions 
rather than the artificial ones and in 



this case the subdivision of these im- 
portant waters by the purely imagin- 
ary boundaries of states is misleading 
and somewhat ridiculous. 

The seven New Jersey Barge canal 
counties comprise one-fifth of the ter- 
ritory of that state and two-thirds of 
its population. The portions of these 
counties on navigable waters con- 
necting with New York bay, New 
York city and the lower part of West- 
chester county, are all generally 
spoken of as the "Metropolitan Dis- 
trict." By the census of 1910 this area 
had a population of 6,400,000 in round 
numbers. In 1915, the year of the ex- 
pected opening of the Barge canal, its 
population will be, as estimated, about 
7,500,000. It is estimated that New 
York city alone grew over eight hun- 
dred thousand between 1910 and 1915. 
Its 1915 population is estimated at 
over 5,600,000. All of the meropolitan 
district lies within twenty-five miles 
of the New York city hall. 

For an idea of the possibilities of a 
still greater waterway see Chapter V., 
Series II. of "The Story of Old Fort 
Plain." Attention is also called to the 
map of the rivers of New York state 
(published at the front of the book) 
which shows very clearly how a re- 
markable series of rivers carry the 
Barge canal along and across the 
state and northward to Lake Ontario 
and Lake Champlain. Of the 475 
miles of Barge canal waterway from 
New York to Buffalo, the Hudson, and 
its tributary, the Mohawk, and the 
closely connected valley of the Os- 
wego carry the canal 350 miles or 
more of the route. The Hudson-Mo- 
hawk section comprises over 250 miles 
of the cross-state waterway and rail- 
way route. 

In closing this subject it may be 
here said that the forty New York 
counties directly abutting on the ca- 
nal or its terminals are Erie, Niagara, 
Orleans, Monroe, Wayne, Ontario, 
Yates, Tompkins, Schuyler, Seneca, 
Cayuga, Oswego, Onondaga, Madison, 
Oneida, Herkimer, Montgomery, Ful- 
ton, Schenectady, Albany, Saratoga, 
Washington, Warren, Essex, Clinton, 
Rensselaer, Greene, Columbia, Ulster, 



386 



APPENDIX 



Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, 
Westchester, Bronx, New York, Rich- 
mond, Kings, Queens. 

The seven New Jersey Barge canal 
counties are Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, 
Essex, Union, Middlesex and Mon- 
mouth. 

The five additional New York state 
counties now practically open to Barge 
canal navigation are Chautauqua on 
Lake Erie; Jefferson, and St. Law- 
rence on Lake Ontario and the St. 
Lawrence river and Nassau and Suf- 
folk on Long Island Sound. The New 
Jersey counties are all located on New 
York bay and its adjacent navigable 
waters. 

Pulton county is included in the 
foregoing because its twin cities of 
Johnstown and Gloversville are but 
three and six miles distant from the 
canal and within easy trucking dis- 
tance. Moreover geographically Pul- 
ton and Montgomery counties are vir- 
tually one. 

Additions to the Barge canal are be- 
ing surveyed and were treated of in 
State Engineer Bensel's 1914 report. 
They are from the foot of Seneca lake 
to Chemung river, following the route 
of the old Chemung canal. This would 
open up communication between the 
540 miles of the New York state Barge 
canal and the Susquehanna river and 
thence with the coal country of 
Pennsylvania. The other additions 
considered were the Glens Falls feed- 
er, and two canals on the Greater 
New York section of Long Island, one 
from Newton creek to Flushing Bay 
and the other across the island from 
Flushing Bay to Jamaica Bay. Barge 
canal improvement of the Black river, 
from Lake Ontario to Carthage, has 
also been projected. A 27-foot ship 
channel from Hudson to Albany, is 
projected in 1914. It must be remem- 
bered that the Hudson river and New 
York bay are parts of the Barge canal. 

By way of the Chicago Drainage ca- 
nal, connecting Lake Michigan with 
the Mississippi, the Barge canal has 
communication with the Mississippi 
valley, the Gulf of Mexico and with 
three-quarters of the navigable inland 
waterways of the United States. From 



Lake Superior through Rainy lake 
and Lake of the Woods to Lake Win- 
nipeg, the building of a canal would 
connect the Great Lakes and the Barge 
canal with the great Canadian north- 
west and would open up water com- 
munication with over half of the nav- 
igable inland waterways of North 
America. This great area is now (1914) 
probably the seat of population of 90,- 
000,000 people and eventually may 
hold a population of four or five hun- 
dred millions. 

In all this remarkable connecting 
system of rivers, lakes and canals, it 
is interesting to note that it is the 
Mohawk valley which makes possible 
this easy and direct communication 
between the tidal waters of the Hud- 
son and Atlantic and America's great 
system of inland fresh waterways. 
Fortunate is the individual and the 
community situated along this water 
route system. 

See maps on these subjects. 

Twenty million dollars have been 
appropriated by New York state for 
the construction of terminal docks or 
small harbors and practically every 
town of importance along the main 
route of the Barge canal (and on its 
branches as well) will have such a 
terminal for the reception and dis- 
patching of freight, which will doubt- 
less be hauled by slow freight and 
fast freight boats and lines of boats 
after the completion of the canal. Five 
million dollars has been appropriated 
by the national government for the 
improvement of the upper Hudson 
river, $1,300,000 of which is to be spent 
at and near Troy. Great concrete 
docks are also being built at the latter 
place and Albany (1914). 

Predictions are made by residents 
of the Albany-Troy group of cities 
that a great metropolis will grow up 
at that point — the head of the tide- 
water navigation and the beginning of 
the Erie and Champlain branches of 
the Barge canal and in the center of a 
network of railroads and automobile 
roads and a great industrial, commer- 
cial and agricultural center as well. 
Some of these (1914) predictions sound 
extravagant to the limit. Congress- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



387 



man Ten Eyck of Albany claims a fu- 
ture population for this greater Al- 
bany-Troy of five millions. It is not 
improbable, however, that a great 
center of a million people will eventu- 
ally be located on the Hudson and Mo- 
hawk near the mouth of the latter 
stream. 

By 1925 the New York metropolitan 
district will number 9,500,000 people 
and by 1950 probably more than 15,- 
000,000, with a New York state popu- 
lation of about 25,000,000. By the year 
2000 it may have 20,000,000 people and 
by 2200 35,000,000 after which time its 
population will probably stand still or 
even considerably decrease as the 
United States population reaches its 
maximum of 400,000,000. These figures 
are all provided present conditions con- 
tinue. A marked decrease in the rain- 
fall in the next century would make 
the estimated population at the mouth 
of the Hudson an impossibility. There 
is nothing particularly noteworthy 
about such enormous population cen- 
ters; in fact they are deplorable as 
regards the great majority of their 
population, so that a decrease in their 
population means progress in reality. 
It may be that the course of industrial 
and commercial life in the next cen- 
tury (1914-2014) may diffuse these 
great populations over many sub-cen- 
ters of human activity. But whatever 
the future populations they seem now 
(1914) bound to be very great and the 
New York State Barge canal will be a 
necessity for bringing foodstuffs and 
supplies (in conjunction with the rail- 
roads) from the American northwest 
and from foreign countries to the 
great cities in the industrial belt lying 
along the New York State Barge canal. 
By 1925 the metropolitan district of 
New York, with 9,500,000 people, will 
be the greatest population center of 
the world, excelling London which it 
now (1914) nearly equals. 



At the time of the publication of 
this book (1914) a $3,500,000 company 
was in process of incorporation, which 
had for its object the navigation of the 
Barge canal and the institution of a 
fast freight line from New York to 
Albany to Buffalo, serving principally 
the Erie section from Albany to Buf- 
falo. Thirty electrically driven boats 
are projected, the type of which was 
not in 1914 definitely decided upon. 



It is expected that the Barge canal 
structures and its deepening of the 
Mohawk river channel will in the fu- 
ture prevent the spring freshets which 
have often been so disastrous and al- 
ways inconvenient to the valley towns. 



CHAPTER V. 
1914 — Aeroplanes. 

The year 1914 was marked by the 
construction of the aeroplane "Amer- 
ica," destined for a trans-Atlantic trip. 
Several routes were in contemplation 
in 1914, one from Newfoundland to 
the Azores to Spain and the other by 
way of Greenland-Iceland and Great 
Britain. Aeroplanes were used for the 
first time in war in the Italian-Turkish 
war in Tripoli in 19ll-1912, in the Bal- 
kan wars (Turkey vs. Greece-Servia- 
Montenegro-Bulgaria and Bulgaria vs. 
Servia-Greece, 1912-13), in the Mexi- 
can revolution of 1913-1914. A great 
European war involving all of the 
great European powers is beginning 
at the time of this writing (August 
1, 1914) and aeroplanes will doubtless 
play a large part in this conflict, 
should it unfortunately long continue. 
Dirigible balloons form part of the 
military equipment of many European 
nations. A continuous succession of 
fatalities has marked the use of air- 
ships of both kinds. 

August 4, 1914, the first great battle 
of this war was being fought at Liege, 
Belgium, between an invading force of 
Germans and its Belgian defenders. 
Russia, France, England, Belgium and 
Servia are arrayed against Germany 
and Austria, with other powers liable 
to be involved. 

In 1914, the year of going to press of 
this book, a speed of 124 miles per hour 
by aeroplanes flying over a measured 
course has been recorded. It was only 
in 1903 that the first flight occurred of 
a man-directed heavier-than-air aero- 
plane at Kitty Hawk, N. C, managed 
)).v the Wright brothers, virtual inven- 



888 



APPENDIX 



tors of the aeroplane. In 1913 the 
tenth anniversary of this event was 
celebrated by New York city aero- 
nauts and a thrilling race, or Metro- 
politan Aeroplane Derby, was held 
around Manhattan Island. The win- 
ner made 60 miles in 52 minutes. 

Across-the-Atlantic and around-the- 
world flights are lieing considered and 
projected (1914). 

The aeroplane stabilizer, a Wright 
invention, was brought out in 1914. 
Up to 1914 the greatest distance flown 
over a circuit without stop by an aero- 
plane was 627 miles. Accidents and 
deaths of aeronauts are (1914) of al- 
most daily occurrence. The aero- 
plane corps of the United States army 
have aeroplanes in service at Vera 
Cruz in Mexico (1914) and all nations 
are utilizing aeroplanes and dirigible 
airships for war purposes. The Hud- 
son and Mohawk valleys were the 
scenes of the notable Albany-New 
York flight by Curtiss in 1910, and in 
part the route of Atwood from St. 
Louis to New York in 1911. Both of 
these events were epoch-making in 
American aeronautics. 



Incorrect Historical Illustrations. 

Simms's "Frontiersmen of New 
York" contains many illustrations 
which are apt to give the uninitiated a 
false impression of the people and cos- 
tumes of the Revolution. Revolution- 
ary men are depicted therein in silk 
hats and spike-tail coats, which is ri- 
diculous and misleading. For good 
pictures of our valley ancestors and 
their costumes see "In the Valley" by 
Harold Frederic, illustrated by Howard 
Pyle, 

A similar instance is the engraved 
supposed portrait of General Herkimer 
printed in the publications of the Onei- 
da Historical society. This is taken 
from an interesting old painting repre- 
senting a middle-aged man, in his shirt 
sleeves, smoking a pipe. Its authen- 
ticity has never been established but 
it has been used as a basis for later 
representations of Herkimer — notably 
the flne statue of him by Burr Miller 
at Herkimer. But the picture used by 
the Oneida Historical society shows 



General Herkimer in a "Prince Albert" 
coat, and modern turn-down collar and 
necktie — an attire absolutely unknown 
in Revolutionary times and not worn 
at all until about the time of the Civil 
war. This portrait of Herkimer is ab- 
solutely unworthy of such a distin- 
guished body as the Oneida Historical 
society — one which has done a great 
work in the preservation of valley 
records and the marking of sites — and 
this plate should be suppressed. 

Such pictures, like careless histori- 
cal references, give the general public 
a disjointed and foggy view of valley 
history. 



The Marking of the Site of Old Fort 
Plain — Valley Historical Societies 
and Their Accomplishments — Boy 
Scouts and Campfire Girls. 

Among the several patriotic projects 
of recent years, one of the most laud- 
able is that of the Fort Plain Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolu- 
tion, having in view the marking of 
the site of old Fort Plain with a suit- 
able memorial. Consideration of the 
reproduction of the blockhouse on its 
original site, has been made. No more 
suitable memorial could be construct- 
ed. Fort Plainers would benefit by the 
moderate walk to the site and the view 
of the valley, which is here particu- 
larly interesting. It probably would be 
much visited if made accessible. Fort 
Plain is a central point in the Mohawk 
valley and a very suitable place for a 
collection of historical objects and ex- 
hibits of present day interest, particu- 
larly so as such large crowds gather 
here from up and down the valley dur- 
ing street fair week. It would also 
have a tendency to continually attract 
a considerable number of people to 
Fort Plain which would be to the con- 
stant advantage of the town. It would 
also be, an object of educational inter- 
est to students. The D. A. R. have 
done splendid work in the marking of 
historic sites and the arousing of pub- 
lic interest in valley history, and the 
permanent marking of old Fort Plain 
on Fort Hill and the preservation of a 
suitable plot of ground about it, with 
accessible walks, would be one of the 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



389 



best achievements of these public- 
spirited women. It may be mentioned 
here that too much credit cannot be 
given the patriotic and historical so- 
cieties of the valley for their notable 
achievements in marking sites, pre- 
serving historic buildings and erecting 
monuments. 

Among the accomplishments by these 
societies and also by public-spirited in- 
dividuals in recent years have been the 
erection of monuments on the battle- 
fields of Oriskany, Johnstown and 
Stone Arabia, over the grave of Gen- 
eral Herkimer, the preservation of the 
Herkimer house. Fort Johnson, the 
Van Alstine house, Johnson Hall, sev- 
eral of our Revolutionary churches, the 
erection of a fine statue to Herkimer 
at Herkimer, and the marking, with 
tablets, of the line of march of the 
Tryon County Militia to Oriskany, 
from the Herkimer house to the battle- 
ground, and the monument marking 
the start of Clinton's overland march 
from Canajoharie in 1779; as well as 
lesser monuments, markings and pres- 
ervations. Many of these are referred 
to elsewhere in this work. 

We have in America today two 
organizations which, while not of an 
ostensibly patriotic or historical 
character, will have a future great 
influence on our country. They are 
the Bo5' Scouts and . the Camp- 
fire Girls — the former one of the 
greatest organizations ever insti- 
tuted and the latter with great possi- 
liilities. Both bring the young in touch 
with nature, the land, outdoor life and 
the history of rivers and localities and 
are bound to influence for good coming 
American men of the future. It is al- 
most impossible to get a Mohawk val- 
ley man of today (1914) to walk out 
and get acquainted with his home val- 
ley. The Boy Scouts and Campfire 
Girls encourage enjoyable, vigorous, 
out-door exercise and consequent 
strong, hardy bodies — matters in 
which the average town-dwelling Am- 
erican of today (and he constitutes the 
majority of our American element) is 
sadly lacking, and in which our out- 
door ancestors excelled as a matter of 
course. All honor to Baden-Powell, 



who instituted the Boy Scout move- 
ment, which has spread from Britain 
to the United States, Canada, Aus- 
tralia, South Africa and all other En- 
glish speaking communities the world 
over. 

Yankee Doodle and the Yankee Doodle 
Boys. 

The following is from the recently 
published diary of Baron Closen, a 
young French officer who was with 
Count de Rochambeau in the York- 
town Campaign of 1781. It may be re- 
marked here that the young French 
officer was much fascinated by the 
Revolutionary American girls. The 
paragraphs quoted describe the sur- 
render of Yorktown and have nothing 
whatever to do with the Revolutionary 
history of the Mohawk valley. It gives 
such a good picture of the American 
soldier and the hatred that existed be- 
tween them and the (shall we say, 
snobbish) British that it is worth pub- 
lication — all the more because it brings 
to mind a sketchy outline of what our 
Mohawk valley Revolutionary fighting 
men may have been like. Of the sur- 
render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., 
Closen wrote in his diary of Oct. 19, 
1781: 

At 2 o'clock the garrison of York 
marched out before the allied army, 
which was formed in two lines, the 
French standing opposite to the Amer- 
icans and wearing their gala uniforms. 
While passing between the two lines 
the English showed the greatest con- 
tempt for the Americans who to say 
the truth, did not cut much of a figure 
compared with our army in appearance 
and equipment, for the greater part of 
these unfortunates were dressed in lit- 
tle white cloth jackets, dirty and 
ragged, and many of them were almost 
barefooted. The English had given 
them the nickname "Janckey Dudle." 

But what of that, the sensible man 
will ask — these people are all the more 
praiseworthy and brave for fighting as 
they do, when they are so badly pro- 
vided with everything. 

"Janckey Dudle," as Closen wrote it, 
is a French rendering of "Yankee Doo- 
dle." It was at old Greenbush, now 
Rensselaer, on the Hudson, opposite 
Albany, that the song "Yankee Doodle" 
was first vamped together and sung 
and played by the American Provin- 



390 



APPENDIX 



cial soldiers. So it was in the Hud- 
son valley (at Rensselaer) that our 
national song "Yankee Doodle," was 
born and in the Hudson valley (on the 
Mohawk at Fort Schuyler) that the 
stars and stripes were first flown in 
battle. Evidently the British called 
our American soldiers "Yankee Doo- 
dles." 

"Landmarks of Rensselaer County," 
by George Baker Anderson (published 
under the auspices of the Troy Press, 
1897), has the following account of the 
birth of "Yankee Doodle" at Green- 
bush (Rensselaer) during the French- 
Indian war (1754-1760): 

During the last of the French and 
Indian wars, Major-Gen. James Alier- 
croml)ie, with more than 10,000 Brit- 
ish-American troops, in 1758, encamp- 
ed in the lower part of what is now 
Greenbush [Dutch, "Greenbosch" — 
Green bush or green woods]. Soon 
after sixteen colonial regiments arriv- 
ed and a little later four more regi- 
ments from Connecticut. It was while 
these troops were in camp at this point 
that the song known as "Yankee Doo- 
dle," originally intended as a satire on 
the Connecticut regiments, was com- 
l)osed by Dr. Shackburg, a [Dutch?] 
surgeon in the British army. The gen- 
eral appearance of these troops greatly 
amused the well-drilled and well-in- 
formed British soldiers and they were 
laughed at and derided until they be- 
came a byword, not only in the camp 
but in Albany. They were called 
"Yankee Doodles," and the song which 
Dr. Shackburg composed was dedicated 
to and named after them. The music 
was adopted from an old song written 
in England many years [centuries?] 
before, and for a long time preserved 
in rhymes of the nursery: 

"I^ucy Ivocket lost her pocket, 
Kitty Fisher foimd it; 
Nothing in it, nothing in it, 
But the binding round it." 

Just what Dr. Shackl)urg's composi- 
tion was it is impossible, at this day 
to tell, for parody after parody has 
been written since that time. The 
tune, however, is practically the same 
today as it was when the original 
Yankee Doodle was written, except for 
the interpolation of a few notes to fit 
the increased number of syllables in 
the stanzas. The purpose of the com- 
position was fulfilled and the Connec- 
ticut soldiers, who took the joke good- 
naturedly, called it "Nation-Fine." 
Less than a score of years afterward, 



upon the surrender of General Bur- 
goyne, October 17th, 1777, the cap- 
tured enemy marched between the 
lines of the victorious Yankees to the 
tune which a British soldier had com- 
posed, and which, by that time, had 
become the only national air which the 
Americans had. 



"Value of the Study of Local History." 
On July 1, 1914, Dr. Sherman Wil- 
liams, Chief of School Libraries of the 
University of the State of New York, 
made an address before the Montgom- 
ery County Historical Society at the 
home of the society, Fort Johnson. 
His paper which is entitled "The 
Value of the Study of Local History," 
is the best exposition of the matter the 
editor of this work has seen and por- 
tions of it are here reprinted. In this 
connection it may be here remarked 
that the editor of "The Story of Old 
Fort Plain and the Middle Mohawk 
Valley," has prepared a short "School 
History of the Mohawk Valley, and 
the Six Mohawk Valley Counties." 
which is a condensation of this work, 
and a gazeteer of Mohawk valley as 
well. Portions of Dr. Williams's ad- 
dress, which are always pertinent to 
our valley and its history, follow: 

It is to be regretted that while the 
courses of study in the public schools 
of the state provide for seven years' 
work in history, no time whatever is 
given to the study of the history of 
New York except incidentally, and very 
incidentally, in connection with the 
study of the history of the United 
States. This seems to be a violation of 
all the old pedagogical principles such 
as that we should go from the known 
to the related unknown, the simple to 
the complex, etc. Just why this con- 
dition of affairs has come about is a 
little difficult to see. It may be be- 
cause there is too common a belief 
that knowledge and education are 
synonymous terms which, of course, 
is very far from being true. What- 
ever the cause may be. no change is 
likely to take place unless a demand 
for such change comes from the peo- 
ple of the state pretty generally. 

It seems to me that this is a mat- 
ter that local historical societies and 
patriotic organizations might very 
])roperly take into consideration. It is 
not that the knowledge of the history 
of our state is of more value than the 
knowledge of other history, but that 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



391 



the effect of such' knowledge is helpful, 
stimulating- and uplifting. A person 
who believes in his family and is proud 
of it is a better member of his family 
because of that fact. So, a person 
who believes in and is proud of the 
history of his locality or his state, 
and the people who constitute the com- 
munity and state, is likely to be a bet- 
ter citizen. A recent writer has said: 

"Europeans regard a general know- 
ledge of the history of their country, 
province and city as an essential fac- 
tor in even an elementary education. 
Inquiry by the American visitor will 
lead to the discovery that almost ev- 
ery intelligent peasant boy is at least 
fairly informed about the annals of 
the locality; its heroes are his own, 
its glory is reflected in the enthusiasm 
with which he recites their deeds to 
the passing stranger. But when the 
iinmigrant, einerging from such a 
background, arrives in America he is 
apt to find that those among whom 
his social lot is cast know little of our 
national history and virtually nothing 
of the career of the state or city; his 
children are not even taught local his- 
tory in the public schools. Small won- 
der if he concludes that America has 
no history worth the telling, no state 
or city heroes worthy the name; that 
America 'just grew up' and is merely 
a land of opportunity in which to make 
dollars. 

"Can American patriots be made out 
of these foreigners in the face of such 
neglect? Can a man be taught to love 
his country or his state or city unless 
he is taught that great deeds have here 
been done, that her high ideals are 
cherished; that his locality has been 
and is a factor in civilizing the New 
World? Are even our American born 
boys an9 girls being made into the 
same sort of patriots that they rear 
abroad? Is it not time that as teach- 
ers we pay some regard to our state 
and local history; that we begin to 
cultivate a taste in this study in the 
minds of youth, and therein lay the 
foundation for that love of locality, 
which is the essence of civic patriot- 
ism?" 

The Battle of Bunker Hill was not 
followed by any momentous conse- 
quences. It did not change history. If 
the battle had not been fought, or if it 
had and the patriots had run like 
frightened sheep at the first charge of 
the British, the general result would 
have been the same. The city of Bos- 
ton would still have been surrounded 
by thousands of patriots, the British 
would still have been driven out. It is 
not claimed that the Battle of Bunker 
Hill was of no conse<|uence. Far from 
it. It showed that the patriots could 
withstand a charge by British regu- 
lars and it greatly cheered and en- 



couraged the Americans. But the bat- 
tle was not followed by any momen- 
tous consequences. 

1 he following year a battle was 
fought in New York. That was not 
. without important conse(iuences. It 
was the bloodiest battle of the Revo- 
lution, that is, the largest proportion 
of those engaged were killed or wound- 
ed. This battle was followed by im- 
portant consequences. It was the 
turning point of the Revolution. I re- 
fer to the Battle of Oriskany. That is 
not known to every schoolboy so that 
he can actually see it. Many of them 
have never even heard of it. Many of 
our school histories do not even men- 
tion it. But it was at Oriskany that 
the Battle of Saratoga was really won. 
It was this that led to the support of 
the French. 

I might spend the afternoon in call- 
ing attention to the important events 
in the history of our state that are not 
mentioned in our schools or school 
books and then fail to exhaust the 
subject. 

How is it with your own valley? No 
portion of our state is richer in his- 
torical associations. It was fore-or- 
dained that New York should be great 
whether you consider it from the mili- 
tary or the civic standpoint — great in 
commerce, great in manufactures, 
great in wealth, great in population, 
great in all that tends to make a state. 
The Hudson river flows through the 
only low-lying, wide-open gap in the 
whole Appalachian system. There is 
none other from the St. Lawrence on 
the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the 
south. From New York to Troy is 
practically a dead level, the tide rising 
and falling at the latter place. From 
here through the valley of the Mohawk 
and across the western part of the 
state to the Great Lakes was the eas- 
iest route to the west. The physical 
make-up of the state made it certain 
that any people who occupied this 
state would be great. This has always 
been the case. It always must be. It 
was true when the Mohawks and the 
other members of the Five Nations 
controlled Central New York from Al- 
bany to Lake Erie. Not only is the 
history of your section worthy of study 
because of its general importance but 
it is no less so because of the events 
that occurred in it and the men who 
took part in those events. We are 
meeting in the first real home of the 
man who perhaps was second to no 
other in that part of our colonial his- 
tory that !)recedes the Revolution. I 
refer, of course, to Sir William John- 
st)n. His brief stay in a little hut at 
Warren's Bush is not forgotten but 
tliit hut was hardly a home. Here he 
was the dominating character, not only 
of the \alley but of the whole frontier. 
No other person began to exercise the 



392 



APPENDIX 



influence oxer the Indians that he did. 
It is perhaps not too much to say 
that but for him this state. New Eng- 
land and the regions of the Great 
Lal<es would have fallen under the 
control of the French and it might 
have resulted in mailing the greater 
part of what now constitutes the Unit- 
ed States a great "New France." You 
probably know well the history of Sir 
William Johnson. Your children also 
ought to possess that knowledge and 
they ought to l)e able to get it in the 
schools. His story, however, should 
be told by some one who has not the 
New England prejudice against every- 
thing in New York — a prejudice that 
leads even so able a writer as Park- 
man to sneer at Johnson and to 
speak of his wife as an ignorant Ger- 
man wench. 

Your society does well in trying to 
perpetuate the memory of these 
things but you will do better if you 
make the story of this valley known, 
through the schools, to every boy and 
girl who attend them. I most earnest- 
ly entreat you to do what you may to 
see that the history of your valley is 
taught in the schools round about you. 

:): ^ ;!: 4; 4: $ 4: H; :!c :;; 

Whether or not New York shall come 
to her own. when the story of the his- 
tory of our country is told, will de- 
pend largely upon the attitude of so- 
cieties such as yours. 



2200 Population of Hudson Valley — 
Ultimate Mohawk Valley Populations 

The editor of this work estimates 
the Hudson valley population of the 
year 2200 at 40,000,000. Of this over 
35.000,000 should lie in the vast city at 
its mouth which should then include 
the greater part of northeastern New 
Jersey about New York bay, Staten 
Island, Manhattan Island, Westerh 
Ijong Island, V)oth shores of the 
Hudson river along the whole 
Tappnn Zee north of Peekskill.. and the 
most of Westchester county. Its cen- 
ter would ijrobably then have shifted 
northwaid from its present location — 
34th to 42d streets — to north of Yon- 
kers in Westchester county and its 
face will be an entire new one, with 
(let us hope) much of civic unity, 
comfort and beauty. By that future 
date the population of the Hudson val- 
ley will have reached its zenith. 

In the year 2200 (only three centuries 
hence) the population of the United 
States may be 3.50,000,000 and that of 
Canada 150.000,000 giving a combined 
North American population of 500,000,- 
000, which Noah Wel)ster (of diction- 
ary fame) estimated as our ultimate 
North American population. Estimat- 
ing the English speaking population 
of outside of North America at 200,- 



000,000 would give A total world En- 
glish-speaking population of 700,000,- 
000, vastly greater than that of any 
other single-language-speaking popu- 
lation. The English-speaking popula-' 
tion of the world in 1914 was estimated 
at about 160,000 000 (the largest in the 
world), of which 110,000,000 was in 
North America. In the year 2200, 
North America (with the United States 
and Canada then in close alliance) may 
with Russia and Japan-China control 
the destinies of the world. After that 
period doulitless South America and 
Africa will rise in importance. In 
those days let us hope, a union of civ- 
ilized nations will make peace and 
justice reign and see that no man 
lacks work and no mother or child 
food clothing and shelter. 

For the year 2200 the editor of this 
work predicts some ultimate popula- 
tions tor the present towns in the Mo- 
hawk valley and the six Mohawk valley 
counties. This is merely a personal 
guess and if the reader's local pride is 
injured he can make one probably 
equally as accurate which will please 
him bettor. Location and accessibility 
to trade routes and water power have 
been considered in this estimate. Only 
valley towns with populations of 1,000, 
according to the census of 1910, are 
considered. On or before 2200 the Mo- 
hawk valley should have a population 
of about 1,500,000. 

This is in no sense a boost for large 
populations. Freciuently a town of 
half a thousand population is a better 
abiding place for the average citizen 
than any of the world's greatest capi- 
tals. Many causes may conduce to 
make this estimated population impos-. 
sible such as food, fuel and water 
shortage. This estimate is ,based on 
present increases. 

Some towns may reach these figures 
and then decrease before 2200. The 
estimate for that year follows, begin- 
ginning with Oneida county and fol- 
lowing the Mohawk and its tributaries 
southward: 

Boonville, 5.000. 

Camden, 5,000. 

Rome, 50,000. 

Oriskany, 8,000. 

Waterville, 5 000. 

Clinton, 5,000. 

Whitesboro-New Hartford-New York 
Mills-Utica, or Greater Utica, 250,000. 

Frankfort - Ilion - Mohawk - Herkimer, 
75.000. 

Little Falls, 50,000. 

Dolgeville, 12,000. 

St. Johnsville, 12,000. 

Fort Plain, 12 000. 

Canajoharie, 12,000. 

Fonda-Fultonville, 8,000. 

Johnstown-Gloversville, 75,000. 

Northville, 8,000. 

Schoharie, 3,000. 

Cobleskill, 8,000. 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



.393 



Middleburg, 3,000. 

Amsterdam, 75,000. 

Schenectady-Scotia, 400,000. 

Cohoes, 75,000. 

Schenectady - Scotia - Cohoes - Water- 
ford - Watervliet - Troy - Greenbush - 
Albany, or Greater Albany-Troy-Sche- 
nectady, 1,000.000. 



Scenic Features of the Mohawk Valley. 

It is impossible to enumerate in this 
volume all the scenic beauties and 
items of topographic interest in the 
Mohawk valley. 

Of the hills along the Mohawk, noble 
old Yantapuchaberg, towering over a 
thousand feet above the Mohawk back 
of Rotterdam, is probably the most im- 
pressive. The Noses and Fall Hill are 
fine bluffs and hills. 

West Canada creek has, among its 
other scenic features, a picturesque 
gorge and falls at Trenton Falls. There 
are attractive rapids at East Creek 
falls, on East Canada creek, about a 
mile above the East Creek station. 
Canajoharie gorge and falls are famous 
in the valley. Bouck's falls in Scho- 
harie county and the falls of the Plat- 
terkill, in the hills back of Rotterdam, 
the falls of Tequetsera near Hoffmans, 
the Adriutha, near Amsterdam, Butter- 
milk falls near Cranesville and Flat 
creek falls near Sprakers, are all cas- 
cades of considerable beauty. 

Aside from the scenic beauty of the 
river, its flats, hills, woods, creeks and 
brooks, and their falls, glens and val- 
leys, the Mohawk valley possesses sev- 
eral lakes of considerable beauty, 
among them, Canada, Caroga, Peck, 
Jerseyfield and Honnedaga. The up- 
per part of Fulton county is dotted 
with lakes and ponds draining into 
East creek, the Caroga or Sacandaga. 
The large lakes formed by the Barge 
canal reservoirs at Delta and Hinckley 
are the largest bodies of water in the 
Mohawk watershed, and possess added 
interest on account of the great engi- 
neering work necessary to their con- 
struction. 

At Howe's Cave in Schoharie, is a 
very considerable cave, which has been 
much visited. 

The main beauty of the Mohawk 
valley seems to be in the pleasing har- 



mony and variety of the lines and 
forms of its wood-covered hills, the 
winding course of the Mohawk and the 
pastoral beauty of its fertile farm 
lands. Each lover of the valley land- 
scape, and their name has been legion, 
finds some particular personal interest 
in its varied scenery. 



NOTES. 



It is suggested that the reader of 
this book follow this order in reading 
this work: 

First: Read the Fifteen School Dates 
in the Mohawk Valley Chronologies in 
the appendix. 

Second: Read the Mohawk Valley 
Chronology (the first and main one), 
which starts the appendix. 

Third: Read the main body of the 
book. 

Fourth: At the conclusion of each 
chapter turn to the appendix and read 
therein the matter relative to the chap- 
ter in the main body of the book, which 
the reader has just completed. The 
appendix additions carry the main 
body chapter heads, to which the ap- 
pendix matter properly belongs. 

A reading of the "Short School His- 
tory of the Mohawk Valley and the 
Six Mohawk Valley Counties," by Nel- 
son Greene, the editor of this book, 
will give good rudimentary historical 
valley knowledge. If off the press by 
the time of the publication of this 
book, the reader is advised to peruse 
it first, unless he or she is well versed 
in Mohawk valley history. The author 
also has in preparation a "New York 
to Buffalo Book," which forms a ga- 
zeteer of the towns on and the country 
along the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. All 
three works can be read with mutual 
enlightenment. 



The word British, used in this work, 
of course refers to all the peoples of 
the British Isles — English, Scotch, 
Irish and Welsh. Of the British pre- 
Revolutionary elements of the Mohawk 
valley population, the Scotch seems to 
have been the greatest numerically. 



394 



APPENDIX 



Hon. Robert Earl, in a paper on 
Fort Dayton, read before the Herkimer 
Historical society in 1S9S, says Walter 
Butler "was killed, on the banks of the 
West Canada creek, about ten miles 
above Trenton Falls," at a place on 
the creek called "Broadwaters," north- 
westerly of Ohio City, and east of the 
hamlet of Northwood (the West Can- 
ada here runs east and west). 



reader who is interested in the thrill- 
ing and tragic features of the Revolu- 
tionary war in this locality. The reader 
is particularly referred to Simms's 
"Frontiersmen of New York." 



A census of Schenectady, taken by 
the city's letter carriers, gave a popu- 
lation of 94,000 in 1914. If this is cor- 
rect and the rate of increase continues 
the population of the six Mohawk val- 
ley counties in 1915 will be about 470,- 
000. Adding to this the population of 
the lower Mohawk valley in Albany 
and Saratoga counties, would give a 
1915 population, of the six Mohawk 
valley counties and the Mohawk valley 
combined, of over 500,000. 

On the Mohawk and the Hudson, 
near the mouth of the Mohawk, is lo- 
cated an interesting group of seven 
cities and villages which virtually 
form one great city or community, as 
they all lie within a radius of about 
ten miles or less. They are Albany, 
Rensselaer, Watervliet, Green Island, 
Cohoes, Waterford and Troy. The 
New York Industrial Directory of 1912 
estimates their population at 240,000 in 
round numbers. With the addition of 
Schenectady their combined popula- 
tion, according to the same authority, 
is 325,000 in round numbers. If these 
communities were organized in one 
civic government it would be the third 
city in the state. They form an in- 
dustrial and commercial center of 
great importance. 



This publication does not pretend to 
give all the known or recorded epi- 
sodes, tragedies and adventures of the 
Revolutionary history of the Mohawk 
valley, or even all of those which hap- 
pened within the immediate vicinity of 
old Fort Plain. Only such as bear 
upon the major events and the main 
story of the valley are brought out here 
— such as are necessary to the picture 
of the three centuries of life along the 
Mohawk. Other works will aid the 



Recent years have seen a great 
growth of public spirit and local and 
town pride in the Mohawk valley. 
Practically every village and city along 
the Mohawk now has its public library 
which bas been frequently given in 
whole or part to the community by 
some public-spirited citizen. In March, 
1914, David H. Burrell of Little Falls 
announced a gift of $50,000, to the city 
of Little Falls, for a City hall, provided 
a similar amount was raised by other 
citizens or by the municipality. Mr. 
Burrell had previously given a public 
gymnasium and building to his city. 
On March 12, 1914, the Weller Free 
Library of Mohawk was opened. This 
was a gift of the fine brick mansion of 
the late Mr. and Mrs. Frederick N. 
Weller of Mohawk. Mr. and Mrs. Wel- 
ler also left the village a business 
block and $52,000 in U. S. bonds to 
provide for the library's support. An 
era of broad world interest is opening 
for the people along the Mohawk and 
the day of narrow provincialism is 
ending. It is proved by the spirit 
which actuated the donors of these 
public edifices and enterprises. 



"Everyman's Literary and Historical 
Atlas of North America and South 
America" gives the battle of Oriskany 
as one of the twenty-five principal 
battles of the War of Independence. 
The Revolutionary principal actions 
fought on New York state soil are 
given in that publication as follows: 
Fort Ticonderoga, 1775; Long Island, 
Aug. 27, 1776; White Plains, Oct. 28. 
1776; Fort Washington (Manhattan 
island), Nov. 16, 1776; Fort Ticonder- 
oga (Saratoga campaign), July 5, 1777; 
Oriskany (Saratoga campaign), Aug. 
6, 1777; Saratoga (Saratoga campaign), 
Sept. 19, 1777; Saratoga (Saratoga 
campaign), Oct. 17, 1777. Stony Point, 
1779, and the battle of Elmira, 1779, 
should be here included. More Revolu- 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



395 



tionary principal battles were fought 
in New York than in anj^ other of the 
thirteen colonies. 



The editor of this work regrets the 
somewhat local character of this his- 
torical study. By the elimination of 
the chapters relative to western Mont- 
gomery county exclusively, this book 
will be found to be a general review 
of Mohawk valley history. However it 
is probable that a more natural picture 
of Mohawk valley life can be given by 
a historical study of that portion of 
the middle Mohawk valley, from Her- 
kimer to Amsterdam (which is the 
section here particularly treated), than 
by a historical analysis of life in large 
vplley urban centers such as Schenec- 
tady or Utica. 



A fertile subject for discussion, de- 
bate and essays in the public schools 
of the Mohawk valley could be the pos- 
sibilities of future valley life as viewed 
in the light of the past and as influ- 
enced by present day forces. 



Fully one-third of this work is given 
up to the description and discussion of 
subjects which concern Mohawk valley 
modern life — its railroads, canals, river, 
highways, manufacturing, agriculture, 
commerce and social life — all subjects 
which promise to be timely to the 
reader for centuries to come. In no 
other historical work has there been 
such a comprehensive treatment of the 
Mohawk valley and its present (1914) 
life. 



"The Story of Old Fort Plain and the 
Middle Mohawk Valley" was originally 
published in the Fort Plain Standard 
and republished, a week or more, after 
its initial appearance, in the Mohawk 
Valley (Fonda) Democrat. There were 
also some twenty republications of 
chapters, or the greater portions of 
chapters, in nine other papers in the 
Mohawk valley, from Frankfort to 
Schenectady. 



In a letter to the Herkimer Citizen 
of July 21, 1914, E. J. Klock says that 
factory cheese was first made on May 



10, 1851, by Jessie Williams and his 
sons, Dewitt and George Williams, at 
the "first cheese factory in the world," 
erected on the Williams farm, two 
miles north of Rome, Oneida county. 
Refer to the article on Herkimer coun- 
ty and Mohawk valley cheesemaking 
in this Appendix, pages 331-335. 



Simms in his list of the Mohawk's 
tributaries omits Kuyahoora as the 
Indian name of West Canada creek. 
The Geisenberg neighborhood, fre- 
quently referred to in this work, re- 
lates to the Hallsville section of Min- 
den township. The spelling Caroga is 
used for the creek of that name in this 
book, whereas the universal pronunci- 
ation (and probably that of the Mo- 
hawks) was Garoga. Such a spelling 
would be used in any future edition. It 
may be remarked here that Schoharie 
is translated as meaning "driftwood." 



The maps herein contained are from 
reliable sources or were drawn by the 
author from maps issued by the office 
of the New York State Engineer and 
Surveyor or from standard maps. 



In addition to the hydro-electrical 
plants located on Caroga and East 
creeks it may be mentioned that there 
is a similar development at Trenton 
Falls on West Canada creek, north of 
Utica. Others will follow doubtless, 
but these three streams are at present 
(1914) the Mohawk valley ones which 
have been developed hydro-electrically. 



In the industrial map of the Erie 
railroad system (published 1913) the 
Mohawk river section from Rome to 
Utica is given as one of the regions in 
which oil or gas is produced. This 
region is the most easterly on this 
map. Gas was discovered in a small 
quantity in Root, Montgomery county, 
in 1913. It exists in generally small 
pockets in many Mohawk valley sec- 
tions. 



In 1914 the holding of a September 
street fair in Fort Plain was aban- 
doned for the first time since its in- 



396 



APPENDIX 



ception fifteen years before. Its hold- 
ing had become burdensome to the 
merchants who yearly organized and 
conducted it. The suggestion Is here 
made that the fair be held yearly in 
rotation by the sister villages of west- 
ern Montgomery county — Canajoharie, 
Fort Plain, St. Johnsville. In this way 
this typical Mohawk valley affair could 
be continued. 



The editor of this work desires to 
acknowledge the assistance of the fol- 
lowing persons in aiding in the collec- 
tion of material and the use of their 
writings in this work: James A. Hol- 
den, New York State historian, Albany, 
N. Y.; Noble E. Whitford, State Engi- 
neer's office, Albany, N. Y.; Dr. Sher- 
man Williams, University of the State 
of New York, Albany, N. Y.; James A. 
WendeU, Albany, N. Y.; P. M. Van 
Epps, Glenville, N. Y.; John Fea, Am- 
sterdam, N. Y.; Rev. Washington 
Prothingham, William B. Wemple, 
Miss Marion Abbott, Fonda, N. Y.; S. 
L. Frey, Palatine Bridge, N. Y.; Abram 
Devendorf, Mrs. Horace L. Greene, 
Fort Plain, N. Y.; N. Berton Alter, 
Nelliston, N. Y.; William Irving Wal- 
ter, St. Johnsville, N. Y.; Col. John 
W. Vrooman, A. T. Smith, Herkimer, 
N. Y.; Margaret B. Stewart; E. W. 
Tuttle; Harry N. Atwood (Saturday 
Evening Post) ; the United States Cen- 
sus Bureau, Washington, D. C; offlce 
of State Engineer and Surveyor, Al- 
bany, N. Y.; Albany Knickerbocker 
Press, and others. 

Particularly does the editor wish to 



acknowledge the great assistance he 
has had from Messrs. George O'Connor 
and W. W. O'Connor, publishers of the 
Fort Plain Standard, who have given 
the utmost care to the proper assem- 
bling and printing of these chapters 
and in the preparation of this review 
of Mohawk valley history. Also ac- 
knowledgment is due to William D. 
Ludwig, linotype operator for the 
Standard, whose careful and skilled 
typography and knowledge of valley 
names has made errors at a minimum, 
in the newspaper and book publication 
of this work — a work where opportuni- 
ties for erroneous typography were 
innumerable. Also credit is due 
Fred H. Kelsey, pressman of the 
Standard, for his careful printing of 
this book. Standard printing exem- 
plifies at its highest the care and high 
degree of excellence that has charac- 
terized the best of Fort Plain's print- 
ing art for the last half century (prior 
to 1914). It is a great pleasure for the 
editor of this work, who has the ut- 
most respect and admiration for the 
great art of printing, to make this 
acknowledgent. 



As the last forms of this work are 
going to press the city of Utica is hold- 
ing a week of celebration (August 3 to 
8, 1914), including a pageant represent- 
ing the battle of Oriskany and the ded- 
ication of a statute of Baron Steuben, 
the "drillmaster" of the Revolutionary 
American army, who died and is buried 
in the town of Steuben, Oneida county, 
to the north of Utica. 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



397 



CORRECTIONS 



SERIES I. 



CHAPTER II. 
In chapter II. it is stated that LaCar- 
non, a French Canadian priest, was the 
first white man to explore the upper 
reaches of the Mohawk, in 1616. Later 
researches show that even he was 
probably preceded by the Dutch who 
doubtless had gone into the lower Mo- 
liawk valley consideral)ly before that 
date. Mr. Frey says: "It is certain, 
also, that three Dutchmen, before 1614, 
had passed up the Mohawk, crossed 
over to Otsego lake, and gono down 
the Susquehanna as far as Wyoming, 
whence, crossing the mountains to the 
Delaware, they were ransomed; the 
Mohawks having taken them prisoners, 
mistaking them for Frenchmen.' They 
probably came to the Otsquago and 
went up its valley to Otsego lake. 



CHAPTER II. 

Schenectady was settled by Van 
Curler and his companions in 1661. 
It was officially plotted by the Fort 
Orange (Albany) authorities in 1663. 
White settlers were resident there 
years before 1661, however — perhaps 
before 1640. 



CHAPTER II. 

Isaac Jogues was a prisoner in 
1642 and was killed in 1646 at Os- 
seruenon, on the south side of the 
river, not at Caughnewago, on the 
north side. The site where Jogrues 
was killed is marked by the Shrine at 
Auriesville. All the Mohawk villages 
of that date were on the south side. 
The Jesuits only converted a part of 
the Mohawks. These were transferred 
to villages on the St. Lawrence and 
were known as the "Praying Indians." 
St. Catherine, "the Lily of the Mo- 
hawk," was one of them. The above 
correction is by S. L. Frey. 

This chapter says that Jogues, 
"through the influence of the Dutch, 
was released and returned to France." 



The actual facts are that he escaped 
at night from his barbarous captors 
while they stopped with him at Albany 
and, with the aid of the Dutch com- 
mandant of Fort Orange, hid himself 
on a Dutch boat, which later sailed for 
Holland. The Mohawks were greatly 
incensed at his escape, but the Dutch 
commandant professed ignorance. 



CHAPTER IIL 
Joseph Brant used the "Wolf" to- 
tem, showing that his mother was of 
that clan. So, of course, his father 
could not have been a "Wolf," as mem- 
bers of the same clan could not marry. 
Correction by S. L. Frey. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
A paragraph says "Nicholas Herki- 
mer and Ebenezer Cox were residents 
(in 1775) of the present town of Dan- 
ube." Beers makes this statement 
which is an error. Herkimer lived in 
Danube but Col. Ebenezer Cox re- 
sided on the south side of the Mo- 
hawk, in the present town of Minden, 
about a mile from the present village 
of St. Johnsville. Simms said in 1882 
that the Cox farm was then owned 
by Samuel F. Smith, whose wife was 
a granddaughter of Col. Cox, and that 
the Cox farm had always been in the 
possession of the Cox family. Three 
of the eight members of the Tryon 
County Committee of Safety of the 
Canajoharie district were (in 1775) 
from the present town of Minden — 
William Seeber, John Pickard, Ebe- 
nezer Cox. 



CHAPTER IX. 
This chapter has the following: 
"At the close of the French war 
there were, in the valley army for- 
tifications at Fort Stanwix (now 
Rome, erected 1758), at Fort Herki- 
mer (1756) and at Fort Hunter (1711)." 
There was also, in addition to the 
above, the fort called Fort Canajo- 
harie at Indian Castle, which was 
erected in 1755 by Sir William John- 
son to protect the Mohawks there re- 
siding. 



398 



APPENDIX 



CHAPTER X. 
In the "Adjacent Settlers (to Fort 
Plain) — 1776" chapter X. it was said 
that "Willett did not command here (at 
Fort Plain) after 1782." This is an 
error. Willett commanded here, al- 
though not constantly at this post, at 
least in 1781, 1782, 1783 and possibly 
later. 



SERIES II. 



CHAPTER I. 
This chapter says that the council 
of 1784, between the Iroquois and Gov. 
Clinton and commissioners, at Fort 
Schuyler or Stanwix (now Rome), was 
the last Indian council in the valley. 
This is an error. The council of 1788 
at Port Schuyler, in which the Iroquois 
finally extinguished the title to their 
4,000,000 acres of land, was the last 
Indian council in the valley. Note the 
table of dates at the end of the regu- 
lar chapters. 



CHAPTER II. 
Gen. Doubleday, the inventor of 
baseball, is spoken of as a schoolboy 
of the old Canajoharie district. 
Strictly speaking this is probably er- 
roneous as Otsego lake lies in what 
was the old German Flats district. 
The matter is apropos, however, as 
Cooperstown and Fort Plain interests 
have always been closely identified. 
As Doubleday was about 21 in 1840 he 
may have been a teacher or assistant 
in Green's Cooperstown school or a 
visitor there rather than a schoolboy. 



CHAPTER V. 
A sentence in this chapter, says that 
"two small lakes or ponds, one at the 
headwaters of Oriskany creek and the 
other at the source of the South Chuc- 
tanunda, are the only ponds of a size 
worthy of mention on the south side of 
the Mohawk watershed." This is a 
mistake of a map consulted, which 
connected the lake at Hamilton with 
the Oriskany instead of the Chenango. 
A small pond lies at the head of Fox 
creek (a tributary of the Schoharie) in 



Albany county. Including the ponds 
at Mariaville in Schenectady county, 
which is the source of the South Chuc- 
tanunda, and the Fox creek headwater 
pond, there are three small lakes^ or 
ponds on the south side Mohawk 
watershed. 



CHAPTER X. 
In this chapter, Judge Forman's res- 
idence is given as both Onondaga and 
Ontario county. Joshua Forman, who 
introduced the first legislative canal 
act in 1808, was from Onondaga 
county. 



In the opening paragraph of the Mo- 
hawk Valley Chronology on page 307, 
it says: "The editor of this work has 
found it impossible to secure dates of 
secondary importance." It should read: 
"The editor of this work has found it 
impossible to secure some dates of sec- 
ondary importance." Practically all 
dates of first and secondary importance 
in the history of the Mohawk valley 
are contained in the chronology, which 
the editor of this work considers one 
of its most important features. 

In the Mohawk Valley Chronology in 
the appendix, under the date 1758, 
April, it says: "Col. William Johnson 
calls together the valley militia at 
Canajoharie (Fort Plain) to repel in- 
vasion of French and Indians at Fort 
Herkimer." There are two errors here: 
Johnson should have been called Gen- 
eral Johnson, as he had that title in 
1758, and the militia were called to- 
gether probably at Fort Canajoharie 
(present Indian Castle). 



In the Statistical Summary for 
School Use on Page 323, the area of 
Montgomery county is given as 355,000 
acres. It should read 255,000 acres. 
With the exception of a few months 
during the early newspaper publica- 
tion of this book (when he was in 
Fort Plain) the editor of this work 
has been in New York during its pub- 
lication in Fort Plain. Owing to his 
inal)ility to read press proofs certain 
errors have crept in which are cor- 
rected herewith. 



ADDITIONS, NOTES, CORRECTIONS 



399 



A FINAL WORD 

This book will have served its pur- 
pose to some extent if it shows the 
intimate relation of the individual and 
his community to the surrounding 
areas and to the world at large. The 
hamlet is as much the hub of the world 
as the great city. Yonder railroad 
turning westward goes far beyond 
your horizon, on and on to the 
plains, the high western mountains 
and the wide Pacific. The waterway, 
with its loaded boats, at the foot of 
this hill does not end around that turn 
of the valley, but flows along to the 
boundless salt sea. That stream run- 
ning through the flats to the Mohawk 
comes from the far silent glades of 
the big North Woods. Those east- 
ern hills rise on and on to the mile 
high peaks of the Adirondacks. 



Willy nilly, you daily touch hands 
with the whole world, just as the life 
and history of the Mohawk valley 
touches everywhere that of the great 
world of which it is relatively a tiny 
part. 

On a still day you stand at the edge 
of the pond and toss in a stone — the 
ripples widen to its farthest bank. 

The scientist tells us that our lives, 
whether sordid or great, whether 
happy or miserable, have their effect 
chemically on the atoms of the uni- 
verse — on this small globe whirling 
through space and on those bright 
worlds which, across the great black 
midnight heavens, make a bridge of 
light, which seems to lead the human 
soul up and up to a dim vision of the 
infinite. 



FEB -.SI9I7 



